Welsh Journals

150 BYE-GONES. Dec, 1874. December 2, 1874. NOTES. GENERAL LORD HILL.—There have been some references to Lord Hill's column in Bye-gones, but none to the great Shropshire hero himself. It is said that when he returned to England at the end of May, after peace was de¬ clared in 1814, and had taken his seat in the House of Lords, and received the national congratulations, he left for his native county, and in hit progress homewards he received the heartiest congratulations of the people everywhere. At Birmingham a sword was presented to him ; on which oc¬ casion the Shaksperian axiom that Brevity is the Soul of Wit was fully recognized. " Take it, my lord," said the spokesman, " and it will not fail you." " Trust it to me," replied his lordship, «* and 1 will not disgrace it." But at Shrewsbury came the noisiest demonstrations. The town was strewn with flowers, or, to use the ' flowery' descrip¬ tion of a penny-a-liner of the period, " even the road was Strewed with blooming odoriferous emblems of the highest esteem." In an unguarded moment his lordship consented to go amongst the crowd in The Quarry, and was instantly surrounded by such a mob, all eager to shake hands, that for a time he was in personal danger, and when he did get away he said, " I have never fled from the fury of my enemies, but I have been obliged to fly from the kindness Of my friends!" At Whitchurch, Ellesmere, Drayton, and other places, Lord Hill was welcomed like a royal prince, but at Prees, his native village, he experienced the crowning gratification. The incident, so far as I am aware, has never Been published; it was related to me by the nephew of a gentleman who was a friend of Rowland Hill's. When Lord Hill arrived at Hawkstone, his venerable uncle, the Minister of Surrey Chapel, was with him at the gates, and, raising his hands, gave the hero his blessing. " This," said his lordship, much affected, " I am prouder of than of all the honours my country has bestowed upon me." Once at home presents flowed in apace from Salopians proud of their countyman. .Amongst others the butchers of Oswestry sent his lordship a Baron of Beef; whereupon the late Mr Robert Stanton, gunsmith, of Bailey-street, said " And I'll send him a knife to carve the Roast Beef of Old England ;" accordingly he ordered from Sheffield a knife as perfect as art could make it with a handle of ivory, and this he for¬ warded, with an appropriate letter to Hawkstone. The reply (which I copy from the original) was as follows :— " Hawkstone, June 28th, 1814. " Sir. I have had the pleasure to receive your flattering Letter of the 24th. & I beg you to accept my beet Thanks for the handsome present you have been kind enough to send me. " I remain, your obt. faithful servant " Mr Robert Stanton. " HttL." Lord Hill was not allowed much time to rest on his laurels; that disturber of the Peace of Europe—Napoleon, not choosing to remain at Elba, so in the spring of the next year he was again in harness, 'till the glorious 18th of June, 1815, ended the war. Jabco. QUERIES. SIR RICHARD BICKERTON.—I read in the Naval Chronicle for 1805, a memoir of Sir Richard Bickerton, a distinguished Rear Admiral of the Red. whose father in 1787 was promoted to the rank of Rear- Admiral of the B?ue. Of the father the Chronicle says: " In the year 1758 he married Miss Hussay, the daughter of Mr Thomas Hussay, of Wrexham, by whom he had four sons and two daughters." He wis knighted in 1773 for his services. The son on the death of the father (in 1792) is styled "SirR. Bickerton, Bartow, the memoir. Were the Bickertons connected with the Shropshire families of that name ? Jabco. SNAKE RINGS IN WALES.—In looking at Camden the other day, to find out what was said about Ceryg-y-Drudion (see Sept. 23, 1874,) I found the following in Gibson's additions, which was new to me, " These Druid stones put me in mind of a certain relique of their Doctrine I have lately obs«rv'd to be yet retain'd amongst the vulgar. For how difficult it is to get rid of such erroneous opinions as have been once generally re¬ ceive (be they ever so absur'd and ridiculous) may be seen at large in the excellent Treatise written upon that subject by Sir Thomas Brown. In most parts of Wales we find it a common opinion of the vulgar, that about Midsummer- Eve (tho' in the time they do not all agree) 'tis usual for snakes to meet in companies, and that by joyning heads together and hissing, a kind of Bubble is form'd like a ring about the head of one of them, which the rest by continual hissing blow on till it comes off at the tail, and then it im¬ mediately hardens, and resembles a glass ring; which whoever finds (as some old women and children are per¬ suaded) shall prosper in all his undertakings." There were plenty of these little rings in existence in Gibson's time ; are there any fortunate possessors of them in the present age ? Gibson says they are called " Gleinen Nadroedh," and he conjectures that they were used as " charms or amulets amongst our Druids ef Britain." N.W.S REPLIES. OLD FOLKS (April 1, 1874).—The following in¬ scriptions appear on tombstones in Selattyn Churchyard, near Oswestry :—" Here lyeth the body of William Sand- land, late of Orsedd Wen, who died the 30th day of March, 1761, in the 106th year of his age." " In memory of John Stocker, who departed this life June 25th, 1843, aged 100 jean." W.H. In the tract entitled^ Journey toLlandrindod Wells, by a Countryman, the second edition of which was pub¬ lished in 1746, I find the following passage:—"We came that day to Oleebury, or as is commonly wrote Cleobury Mortimer, in Shropshire. This town is situate in an excel¬ lent air, as the long lives of the inhabitants, and multitudes of children evince; and I am credibly informed, that not many years since died one Mrs Barker, aged 135 years, who lived almost all her time in this parish, within three miles of the Clee Hill, called Tetter-stone." A. BORDER COUNTIES' WORTHIES. (Nov. 18, 1874.) FALCONER, Thomas, the learned editor of Strabo, was son to William Falconer, recorder of Chester, by Elizabeth Wilbrabam, of Townsend, in the same county. He followed the profession of medicine, but his classical at¬ tainments secured for his name a higher fame than that of an ordinary local practitioner. He died and is buried in his native city, his remains being interred in the great church of St. John's there. FALCONER, William, a brother of the former, and also born at Chester in or about the year 1741. This gen¬ tleman was well versed in the study of ancient literature, in horticulture, and science. His character for probity and truth commanded universal respect, and Lord Thurlow is reported to have said of him " that he knew everything, and knew it better than anyone else." He published some