Welsh Journals

246 BYE-GONES. Aug., 1877. vouring to make their escape from the clanger, they were huried in a drift; several made their escape from St. Asaph into the sea, and fell victims to their timidity. How much truth is there in this most marvellous narra¬ tive, and how much is due to the excited imagination of the writer? G.G. REPLIES. EPITAPHS (Sep, 25, 1875).—In one of the lots belonging to the " Mytton Collections" recently sold in London, and which has come into my possession, there is the following in MS. :— On Mr. Thos. Farmer late of Wolverhampton Who died May 12, 1790 Aged -20 years of a consumption Beneath this Earth is laid a modest Youth, Who trod the paths of Honor, Virtue, Truth ; Scarce had his Parents fixed their destin'd Plan, And blooming Youth had ripen'd into Man, Scarce had there Hearts, warm with paternal Joy, Beheld their Wishes in their Fav'rite Boy ; When Death in Terror on his Victim rush'd, Struck the fell blow, and the fair fabrick crush'd ! Hence, Reader, deign to learn thy fickle State, Youth's flatt'ring hopes, and Lifes uncertain date, All, all must perish, old wise young and gay, When God commands, all Nature must obey ; Vain are the Tears the weeping Parents shed, The Grave forever closes o'er the Dead. Can any reader say who Farmer wasand where he was buried ? On the same sheet the following also appears :— An Epitaph in Worfield churchyard written on the Gravestone of the late Joan Elcock of Bromley in the parish of Worfield, Daughter of Willm. Stokes of Roughton. Her Temper mild her Love sincere, In prime of Life was summon'd here ; Her Disposition good and just, Has paid the Debt we all soon must. There are some other epitaphs on the same sheet but none of them pertaining to the district covered by Bye- gones. J.S.D. MR. J. CRESSETT PELHAM (June 6, 1877).— I was told the other day that there is a man still living who worked on the roads breaking stones with Mr. Pelham ; and I was also told that the story goes that the last time he contested Shrewsbury, Mr. Pelham freely offered to the Free and Independent Electors £10 a piece for their votes ; and when the contest was over refused payment, severely chiding the corrupt voters for their venal conduct. Sckobbes Byrig. The paragraph quoted by Told appeared in the Salopian Journal of April 24, 1839, and that to which it refers on January 9, of the same year. It is perhaps need¬ less now to say that Mr. Pelham never did "turn up" and the estates devolved on his nephew, the Rev. Henry Thursby, who on succeeding assumed the additional sur¬ name of Pelham, and to whom a few weeks ago his portrait was presented by his tenantry. Old Salop. i Rumoured Death of Mr. Cressett Pelham. — From an announcement that appears in the Asiatic Journal for this month, there is, we fear, no doubt that John Cressett Pelham, Esq., formerly M.P. for this county, and more recently the representative of the borough, is no more. The announcement to which we refer is as follows :—" Death, at Mauritius, August 29, Mr. Pelham, passenger on board the Nerbudda." It is well known that Mr. Cressett Pelham sailed from Liverpool, for the East Indies in the autumn of 1837, and we have the best authority for stating that he had made an ap¬ pointment for meeting a gentleman at the Mauritius on his re¬ turn, which is a fact confirmatory of the notice that we have quoted. To Mr. Pelham's numerous friends, his death will be a source of deep and lasting regret, and his numerous tenantry and dependents will long deplore the loss of a landlord and master benevolent and kind in the highest degree. To a manner somewhat eccentric Mr. Pelham united the accomplishments of a gentleman and the attainments of a scholar. Deeply versed in the constitutional history of his country and in the classic lore of early ages Mr. Pelham maintained those principles of public conduct that he supported with an undeviating consistency and with a feeling of high-minded integrity that will cause him to be revered by his political supporters as long as memory shall con¬ tinue. Of him it may justly be said that a more true-hearted Englishman never lived; and we are sure that many hundreds who will read this notice, and to whom Mr. Pelham was per¬ sonally known, will feel that in his death the country has sus¬ tained the loss of as firm a patriot as ever sat in the Legislature of Great Britain, and of as ardent an admirer of the great prin¬ ciples of the British Constitution as ever drew breath under its protecting and genial influences. Most happy should we be if we could believe that the announcement to which we have re¬ ferred did not relate to Mr. Cressett Pelham, but we fear that anv such belief would not be well founded. AUGUST 1, 1877. NOTES. OSWESTRY NAMES.—We often puzzle over the origin of names of places and streets in country towns, but our speculations usually refer to such as have been called by the same names beyond the time remembered by tha mysterious personage "The Oldest Inhabitant." In Oswestry, however, we have names of houses and streets of quite modern origin, but which bid fair to puzzle the next generation, if, indeed, another generation will arise in these railway days sufficiently interested in the subject. For instance there is (as may be seen on the signboard) '' Osborne Hotel" in Bailey-street. Another generation will of course say, '' Oh, that name is easily accounted for: a favourite residence of the Queen's was Osborne, in the Isle of Wight, and the name became fashionable.'' Not so, at least in this case. Early in this century, as some of our elders very well remember the house was occu¬ pied by a Mr. Edwards, draper. After his time the house was turned into a wine vaults by the late Mr. Hughes, and then came Mr. Leigh, who had previously kept the Wynnstay Arms (or "Cross Foxes" as it wa* then called), who opened the place as " The Commercial Hotel." Mr. Leigh, when he removed to Bailey Street, brought with him the Post Office, which had previously been attached to the Wynnstay Arms, and in a Directory of 1828 I find, " The Commercial Hotel (and Post-office), Bailey Street, Mr. Leigh." After him came Mr. Osburn, who married Miss Kyffin, and he occupied the "Com¬ mercial" so long that it came to be called " Osbum'j Hotel" by the public, so when Mr. Macdougall succeeded him he painted on his signboard, '' Osburn's Commercial Hotel." The house afterwards became less commercial, and when it was sold a few years ago to Mr. Walker, of Wrexham, the old names were obliterated, and the house was forthwith called, on the sign, but not by the public, " The Osborne Hotel!" Take again the buildings at the bottom of Lower Brook Street. We have, at the corner, the " Victoria Rooms," and the "Victoria Works," jutting into "Victoria Road " on one side, and "Victoria Place "on the other. Another generation will be pardoned for supposing that the Assembly Rooms suggested the other names. Again another generation would be wrong, for " Victoria Place" appears in our Oswestry Directories many yeaf» before the Victoria Rooms, or Victoria Works, were thought of! The road leading from Lower Brook Street to the Cemetery was formerly called "The Lower Road," and was, I presume, the main road to Shrewsbury before the direct London and Holyhead road was formed by Telford. Another modern name is " Brynhavod Lane." But even