Welsh Journals

June, 1876. BYE-GONES. 79 to be left to the judgment and discretion of the minister and churchwardens of the said parish of Llandyssil, for the time being. Notes—Id consequence of the estate of the testatrix not being adequate to provide in full for the legacies given by her will, a general meeting of the parishioners was con¬ vened on the 19th day of November, 1797, at which it was agreed to accept a proportional share with the rest of the The portion received amounted to £6'6, which, about the year 1803, was laid out by the parish in repairing the church, and the parish have regularly paid two guineas at Mid¬ summer, and 21s at Christmas, by way of interest for the same, which is carried to the general account of the charities. The totil of these charities, amounting to £9 13s, is distri¬ buted, together with the sacrament money, half-yearly, to about fifty or sixty poor persons, in sums of money, varying from Is to 3s, prefeience being given to those persons re¬ ceiving the least parochial relief. H. June 28, 1876. NOTES. BATTLE OF WATERLOO.—« Some intimation of the news " of the glorious victory over the Freuch, we are told by the local papers of the time, reached Shrewsbury on Wednesday, June 28, 1815, and on the strength of it the bells were set a ringing, and cannons were fired. So it took ten days sixty years ago to do what could be done now-a- days, I supp >se, in ten minutes. Scrobbes Byrig. CHURCH BRIEFS—FLIXTON.-The following notes of collections of money by briefs, ext' acted from the parish registers of Flixton, near Manchester, may be acceptable to the readers of your column, some of whom may be able to explain the circumstances which are allnded to. Colected And Gathered, the 29 of September [1661] for A Losse by fire In Great Dreat >n In the County of Salup the sum of Nine Shillings And one peny. (p. 160.) Collected & gathered for Bridgnorth in the County of Sallop a Losse by fire the 27 day of Apriil [1662]- the sume of five shillings Three pence, (p.160 ) Colected for the vse of the markit towene of nupert in the Countv of Sallop the some 7s 8i the 3 day of noumber 1667. (p. 161 ) Colected for Tiberton in the County of Solop the som of 7s lid the 20 f abnry 1668 [ 9]. (p. 176.) John E. Bailey. otretford, near Manchester. RUSTY BACON.—When I was a boy in Oswestry we had an eld provision dealer of the name of Jones whs used to be called Rusty Bacon, not from any disrespect, but in consequence of its bavins' become known that he adopted these words as a private mark; and the public were tickled at the fancy on the part of a bacon dealer. The words Kusty.' ' Reasty,' or 'Rasty,' are to be found in the Pro¬ vincial Glossaries of several counties, including Shropshire, and in each signify " rancid." In the days which are gone, every tradesman who rejoiced in a common name of no dis¬ tinctive character, was honoured with a sobriquet pretty generally appropriate. I could give a few of these, did I not tear the black looks of the descendants, who are swells m their way ! Oswald. BRIDGET BOSTOCK, THE MIRACLE WORKER.—In an article on Montgomeryshire, reprinted from the Saturday Review, on paees 83—85 of Byegones, 1874, there is a reference to this famous female, in connec¬ tion with Sir J. Pryse, of Newtown Hall. When Sir John lost the resolute lady who refused to be his third wife unless he buried the other two, he took it so to heart that he called in the services of Bridget Bostock to restore her to life, but the tffort was a failure. The following letters, extracted *l from the papers," relate to the successes of the Cheshire witch, and appeared in the Gents: Mag: 1748:- Middlewych in Cheshire, Aug. 28. There is risen up in this country a great doctress. an old woman, who is resorted to by people of all ranks and degrees, to be cur'd of all diseases ; she lives four miles from hence, and has been in this great fame about 2 ■; onths; she has several hundreds of patients in a day out of all the country round for 80 miles: I went to see her yesterday out of curiosity, and be¬ lieve near 600 people were with her. 1 believe all the country are gone stark mad. The chief thing she cures with is fasting spittle, and God bless you with faith. Nmnptwich, in Cheshire. August 24. Old Bridget Br stock fills the country with as much talk as the rebels did. She hath, all her life-time made it her business to cure her neighbours of sore legs, and other disorders ; but her reputation seems now so wondei fully to increase that people come to her from far and near. A year ago she had, as I re¬ member, about 40 unaer her care, which I found afterwards in¬ creased to 100 a week, and then to 160. Sunday ^e'nnight, after dinner, my wife and I went to this doctress's hou e, ana were told by Mr S-------and Tom M--------, who kept the door, and let people in by fives and sixes, that they had, that day, told 600 she had administer'd to, besides her making a cheese. She, at length, grew so very faint (for she never breaks her fast 'till she has done) that, at 6 o'clock, she was obiigedfc o give ov-r, tho' there were then more than 60 persons whom she ha i not med¬ dled with. Monday last she had 700, and ever> day now pretty ne r that number. She cures the blind, the deal, he lame of all sorts, the rheumatic, king's evil, hysteric fits, falling fits, shortness of b eath. dropsy, palsy, leprosy, cancers, And, in short, almost every thing, txcept the French disease, which she will not meddle with ; and all the means she t.ses tor cure are only str king with fasting spittle, and praying for them.— It is hardly credible to think what cures she daily performs: some peop e grew well whilst in the house, others O" the read home ; and, i is said, none miss: people come 60 miles rouni. In our lane, where there have not been two co ches seen b* f >re these twelve years, now three or four na'-s in a day ; and the poor com- by cart loads. She is about 70 years of age, and keeps old Bostock's house, who allow'd her 35a a year wages: and, tho' money is offered her, yet she tikes none for her cures. Her dress is very plain ; she we-irs a fltnnel waistcoat, a green linsey «pron, a pair of clogs, and a plain cap, tied with a half¬ penny lace. So many people of f ishion come now to her, that several of the po-r country people make a comfortable subsis¬ tence by holding their horses. In short, the po r, the rich, the lame, the blind, and the deaf, all pray for her, and bless her ; bu- the doctors curse her; A correspondent of the Gents : Mag : gave the following confirmation of these accounts, as follows :— Sandbach, Chesh. Sept. 16. The old dnctress, Bridget Bostock, lives at Oppenhall, between this pi c^ and Namptwich, being three miles from each. She is a very plain woman, about 64. and hath followed doctoring for some years to some few pe.ple in the neighbourhood. About a quarter of a year ago she came into great fame, for curing of most diseases, by rubbing the place with the fasting spittle of her mouth, and praying for them; phe hath had 6 <r 700 of a dav, and it bath been so throng'd that a great ma~y people have come, that have stay'd a day or two bef re ihey could get to her. She now speaks to none but those that have been with her aforetime, and we hear she will not (till next April) exc pting such, and those for deafness. The Rev. Mr Wre. Harding, minister of Oppenh»ll, gives her a very great character, and saith that she is one that is a cot stunt frequenter of his church. A son of hi was < ured of his lameness by her immediately after he h«d been with her, when all other doctors coald do him no service; Mrs Gradwell, of Liverpool, hath won-