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200 BYE-GONES. Apr., 1877. Edward ap meredith mercer Richard ap lln Hugh Joanes mercer John James Edward Aprise (8) Thomas James Thomas ap Ed ap willm bocher Thomas Jones Drap ' Thomas lloyd A translation of the song Gutto Glyn made in praise of Oswestry was given in Bye-gones, Sep. 22, 1875. Gutto lived from 1430 to 1460, and Tudur Aled, the other poet mentioned, from 1480 to 1520. They were, of course, neither of them burgesses when the list was made, and the presence of bye-gone names is thus explained by the fol¬ lowing memorandum on an earlier page of the book :— Ihns This booke made in the tyme of Thomas Kyffin and Lewis Daves Bailifs of the towne of Oswestre in the Com of Salop. viz. the first day of November in the yere of the Reigne of onre sovraigne lord Henry the eight by the grace of God king of England Ffraunce & Ireland defender of the faieth and the eith of the Churche of England and Ireland supreme hed the xxxvhjth mencyonyng not only the names of Bailifs ellected but also the names of older & the auncient burgens together with the names of other burges to be fromhen'tforth ellect withn the said towne of Oswestre. Following, on the next page, is this entry, in similar handwriting to the above :— Ihns No'ia Ballinor' vill Osuestr' Com. Salop Thomas Kyffyn ) lewes Daves ) Richard Joanes (Ias Thomas lloyd j"w To this list Mr. Hancock adds the following notes. 1— cochyn, i.e., red-haired. 2—Grethe i.e., crydd, a shoe¬ maker. 3—Bedo, a rare old Welsh name, 'banor,' banwr, a fuller. 4—Dyo, i.e., Dafydd, as Jack is John. 5—ove. 'Ove,' and ' Dovie' were Salopian names as may be seen in the Charities of Chetwynd, and Bridgnorth. 6—Jenn ap lln, i.e., Llywelyn. 7—Bobyth, i.e., a baker. 8—Ap Rice. 9—These names appear as the ' BaylybV in the second of Ed. VI., vide second instalment in Bye-gones Feb. 28. Has the song " made by Tudur Aled " been preserved? Jarco. QUERIES. MOUNTAINEERING.—What are trie quickest ascents known of Cader Idris and Snowdon ? Will some of your mountaineer readers give us their experiences? G. G. PUGH OF CWM RHAIADR.—For many gener¬ ations Cwm Rhaiadr in the parish of Machynlleth was the seat of a family named Pugh, now believed to be ex¬ tinct. So far as appears from a superficial examination of County records its members took but a limited part in public affairs. It is said, however, that the family was one of great and honourable antiquity, and that the family of Pugh of Mathavarn was one of its younger branches. Will some kind reader oblige the querist by giving the descent of the Pughs of Cwm Rhaiadr, and by informing him if there be any pedigree of the family extant. Newo. REPLIES. PLEBEIAN TRIBES OF WALES (Mar. 14 1877).—Is not Newo in error in speaking of five Plebeian tribes of Wales ? Does he refer to the Fifteen tribes of North Wales ? If so, he will find all he requires in the appendix to Pennant's History of the parishes of Whiteford and Holywell. GOOLEDD. BURCHINSHAW (Mar. 7, 1877).— Birchinshaw, William, a bard and gentleman, of Llansannan, and one of those gentlemen who "stood firmly by the Welsh language, and so prevented its entira abandonment," in the time of Queen Elizabeth. T. Prys, of Plas Iolyn, mentions him as "a contemporary," amongst those "British rhymsters" who were "real gentlemen and noblemen," and who "sang at their own expense," i.e., were above going about the country like the poor, professional bards. Here is an englyn of his, to the " Ceiliog Bronfraith" (the Thrush), as an instance of his poetical talent:— Bronfraith bur araith bererin—deilgoed, A duwiolgerdd ddiflin; Oer foreugwaith ar frigyn Cywir ddoeth fydd cerdd o'th fin. (See Enwogion Cymru, by I. Foulkes, Liverpool, p. 63.) Mr. Williams mentions Birchinshaw in his Eminent Welshmen, and says that many of his poems are preserved in MS. Bonwm. APRIL 4, 1877. RODXEY'S PILLAR.—We have received yet another communi¬ cation on this subject which has, more or less, found its way into Bye-gones on periodical occasions ever since the " column" (ours, not Rodney's) was established. The gentleman who has now kindly written on the subject says that there used to hang on the wall of a room in the Lion Hotel, Llanymynech, a wood- engraving of Rodney's pillar—which is still in the possession of Mrs. Lloyd—on which was a copy of a Welsh inscription purporting to l>e one on the pillar. This wood cut, he says, was published contemporaneously with the erection of the pillar, and beneath the engraving is printed in English:— " Erected in honor of Sir George Brydges Rodney, Admiral of the White, by a subscription of the gentlemen of this county, 1781." A correspondent to Notes and Queries recently re¬ marked on the lack of information concerning the erection of this pillar. There must be many people now living in the district whose fathers were alive at the time of its erection, and yet no one seems to know who were the chief promoters, who the builder, what it cost, with what ceremony it was in¬ augurated, &c, &c. It has been suggested that perhaps some of the issues of the Shrewsbury Chronicle of 1781-2 may throw light on the matter, if anyone who had access to a file of those years would consult it. NOTES. THE BIRTH PLACE OF TALHAIARN.-The birth place of any one whose name is known out of the county in which he is born is worthy of a visit from all who may be acquainted either with the man or the man's works or words. It is pleasant to visit the home of him who leaves behind "foot prints on the sands of time,' and Talhaiarx was one of these. When alive his pre¬ sence was ever welcome wherever he went. On the eisteddfodau platform he was the man whom the people delighted to listen to, and he has left behind him for me and others volumes of a mixed kind, prose and poetry, and reminiscences of the place that gave him birth. That flace it was my good fortune to visit. A few weeks ago left Llansannan, a village about three miles from Llan- fair-talhaiarn, and having travelled over the hill I cam0 to a spot from which the village of Llanfair, as it M locally called, was seen in a hollow beneath. Here I wj-U take my stand awhile to view the surrounding scenery. 1 &e hill between the two villages is not altogether uncultivated. There are a few houses here and there along it in sheltered nooks with a few trees planted near them for the purpose of breaking the force of the wind, and these bent trees in¬ dicate very surely the prevailing direction and the tor of the winds on this exposed mountain. These mountain houses are built low: they are generally only one storjr. high, and not unoften one side is in the hill and the r on the hill side touches the ground. The walls are tn«<