Welsh Journals

Mar., 1876. BYE-GONES. 29 to encourage the manufacture of that article, in order to use UP tQe wo°l which was being hitherto wasted. Respect¬ ing the burial fees charged at Llanfihangel, it is said that on one occasion the parishioners objected to the charge, as it was in their opinion too high. The Vicar, however, silenced the discontents by showing the " tarrier," and telling them that, as they then all buried their dead rela¬ tives "in coffins," he could charge 5s; for by it he was entitled to that sum, and 4d for " every grave in shrouds." W.R.H. QUERIES. OBLIN.—One of the fairs at Lampeter is known as " Ffair Oblin," or Oblin Fair. What are the origin and meaning of Oblint Teivi. THREE BEAUTIES OF NORTH WALES.— Llangollen Bridge, which is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales, is also regarded as one of the " Three Beauties of North Wales." What are the other two ? Gogledd. [A similar query was put in Bye-gones, Jan. 29, 1873, but elicited no reply.—Ed.J REPLIES. THE VAUGHANS OF CAERGAI (Mar. 1, 1876).- The statement as to how Caergai beeame annexed to Wynnstay was taken out of ' Yorke's Royal Tribes'1 page 116. My old authority, Owen Grnffudd, fliuriehed about, the last quarter of the 17th century, and the Pedigrees said to be of his collecting do not seem to come down hardly to his time, for under " Caergai," he only gives to John the gon of Rowland the son of Owen. The said John being the father of Rowland the scholar, the pedigree tallies with that given by " W." I need not add that the pedigree sent by me was given as I found it. and I have no doubt but " W " has further noted the difference in the Llwydiarth part of that pedigree, viz, from Howel Vaughan of Llwydiarth back to their great ancestor Uchdryd ab Al aeth. The " Letter," as also any tradition and further informa- tion bearing on the Vaughans of Llwydiarth and Caergai, will be very interesting to the Welshman, the Vaughans and their descendants deserve honourable mention, as they have always been great patrons, and have liber¬ ally contributed to the rich stores of Welsh liter¬ ature. Not the least of them were the following— Gwerfyl Fychan, also called Mari Fychan, the daughter of Hywel Fychan, of Caergai, was considered the best poetess of her day (1460). Her elegy on the Sufferings of Christ is very beautiful. The readiness and .vit of her im¬ promptu stanzas have been the theme of many an interest¬ ing tale. It is said that Hywel Fychan, of Caergai, had two children, Gwerfyl and JohD. The father, who also possessed a fair share of the family talent for poetry, often loudly wished that Gwerfyl had been the boy, and heir to the old estate of Caergai ; for, if tradition be correct, the son and heir was anything but worthy of his parentage and kinsmen, the daughter being gifted with uncommon talent and ability, and more masculine in her conduct and manners than her brothar, who was very wanting in all that fitted him for being the owner of Caergai, and showed by contrast a great want of his sister's brightness. The father often tested his children's quickness in versification. Anecdotes are to this day related showing Gwerfyl's superi¬ ority over her brother. It is much to be regretted, however, that some of her poetical effusions, still found in MSS. give every evidence that her taste and thoughts were anything hut refaned, or what is expected from a woman. She has often been confounded with Gwerfyl Hael, of Blodwell, who was so deeply lamented by her bard, Gutto'r Glyn. Gwerfyl Hael (the Generous) iies, according to the bard > "Hid in the choir of St. Michael's," Llanynmlodwel Church- But the best known of the family was Rowland Vaughan- He translated and published a Sermon against Schism in 1658, and dedicated it to " his dear nephew Ev. Vaughn and his loving family at Moel y Fronllwyd " in the parish of Llanfihangel, Mont. Rowland Vaughan cast his lot and clung to the Royalist cause, and fought on that side at Naseby. Hence he was often called Captain Rowland Vaughan. His "dear nephew" actively supported the Parliamentarians, but according to the " Translator " in his dedicatory epistle, " Neither of them being much in their gains in the work." The sturdy old Royalist of Caergai zealously defended his party with his pen as well as with his sword, for he published several small books in 1658, all in support and defence of the Established Church. We may also mention John Vaughan of Caergai (the soa of Rowland), who was a Welsh bird of some fame. His Cywydd y Gynddaredd, composed when the Protector was in the height of power, shows his ability in the allegory and equivocation adopted by Huw Morris, Llansilin, W. Phillip, and other loyal bards of his day. He has appended his name to the composition thus—Johannes Vaughan de Caergai. There seems to be some difference in the Caergai Pedigrees as given by one authority and the other, for I have before me a Cywydd, composed by William Phillip, the bard, on the death of "Gruffudd Fychan of Gaergai," whose descent is thus traced in the Brython, vol. iv., 284. " Grutfydd Fychan, the son of John, the son of Robert, the son of John, the son of Hywel." who was the father of Gwerfyl Fychan. William Phillip in the close of his "Mirwnad," conveys consoling words to Anne from her dead husband Gruffydd Fychan. Nor have the Llwydiarth Vaughans been unmindful of the wants of their countryman, for they contributed by their patronage not a little to the fostering of native worth. The last ef the name, Edward Vaughan, of Llwydiarth. ever mindful of the claims of his " church,T' allows his neighbour Rondol Davies, M. A., vicar of Meifod, in a lengthy letter to dedicite his book to him. This book, publisher! at Oxford in 1675, was intended as a fair opposi- tion to the " Doctrines of the Paoists, Presbyterians, Inde¬ pendents, and Quakers" of that locaHty; a3 a people "Carefully to be avoided by every man that loves the salva¬ tion of his soul." (vide Cambrian Bibliography, p. 203). The Vaughan legacies left to the parishes of Llanfyllin, Llangedwyn, Llanfihangel, and Dorchester for the educa¬ ting and clothing of poor boys and girls (see But-gones 1874, p. 142), show their love for learning. In Wood's Athenoz Oxonienses I see several Vaughms of some eminence, particularly those of Hengwrt and ^a^thle, being, I presume, kinsmen to the Vaughans of Caergai. Cyffin. THE SIN-EATER IN WALES. (Feb. 9, 1876) Further correspondence has appeared iu the Academy on this question, bat no fresh light has been thrown on the alleged custom. On February 26th, Mr E. R Morris gives from Ruscoe's South Wales a quotation from the Mountain Decameron, in which " what is believed to have been the Jast Sin-Eater in Wales," is stated to have lived somewhere between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, but Mr Askew Roberts, in the last number, shows, by a further quotation from the book itself, that this was only a fancy sketch, founded on Aubrev's "leane ratkal." In another letter, re¬ plying to one by the author of the Blackwood article, Mr Silvan Evans defies that gentleman to make good his asser¬ tion that the superstition is " still surviving in North and South Wales." 8*