Welsh Journals

46 BYE-GONES. June, 1878. sober, quiet, and steady man ; and it was very difficult to get him to talk on any subject, because he was so very reserved and quiet." (Hear, hear.) His (the lecturer's) idea was that he had learned somehow or other the poetry of the Provencals, and introduced the style into Wales, where it became a new, and for a time, a popular poetry. Again, all his poems seemed to be so original and so striking by the absence of any references to clas¬ sical mythology. His heroic age was that of Arthur and the Round Table. Another interesting fact was that he was an exact contemporary of their English Chaucer, and he had no doubt that a careful comparison of the two poets would bring out many illustrations of each. He was especially a poet of the fancy, and a peculiar feature was the enthusiastic outpourings of his emotions when they were once roused by his subject. At such a time there was something almost Shakespearian in his rapid flow of imagery. In conclusion, Professor Cowell said there was no good edition of Dafydd ab Gwilym's works, several of his poems not being published at all, and surely "Wales was bound to do for its great poet what other nations had done for theirs. They ought to publish a good edition from the best MSS. He thanked his audience sincerely for the kind way in which they had listened to his remarks, and he could assure them that all the pains which the Welsh language had cost him to acquire had been amply repaid by the interest he bad felt in the works of Dafydd ab Gwilym. (Cheers.) The Rev. PiOBERT -Tones, vicar of Rotherhithe in mov¬ ing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, said he was sure that if Welsh literature were digged and delved into, a store of richness and beauty would be discovered which would astonish their English friends. Gwrgant seconded the proposition, which was carried by acclamation. The Chairman said that he was glad to see the Cymmrodorion Society again waking into activity. Its objects wrere to promote the interests of the Welsh lan¬ guage, literature, &c, and they hoped soon to be in a position to lend a helping hand to any of their country¬ men who might require it. This latter was a feature which they had long admired in the constitution of the Scottish Corporation, and he was glad that the time was at hand when they would be able to show their Scotch friends that the Welsh people did not intend to be behind in a good cause, such as the one he had referred to. During the course of his lecture Professor Cowell read several specimens of Ab Gwilym's poetry, to the evident ^ratification of his hearers. Weather Lore.—After the splashing May we have had this year, the following bits of the wisdom of our ancestors will be interesting :— " A dry J larch and a wet May, Will give a right good stack of hay." " When the oak precedes the ash Then you'll only get a splash, But when the ash precedes the oak Then expect a good down soak." These have been often published, but the following, which was repeated to my informant by a gentleman in Oswestry as far back as 1815, I fail to find in any collection of weather proverbs:— "When the clay doth feed the sand Then 'tis well for old England, But when the sand doth feed the clay Then old England rue the day." M.G. JUNE 5, 1878. NOTES. AGRICULTURE IN ANGLESEY.—The Sport- ing Magazine for Feb., 1815, says :—So extensive have been the agricultural improvements in Anglesey, by in¬ closing and draining, that snipes and wild ducks, formerly so plentiful in that part of the country, have this year totally disappeared. E.T. Y DDYBACCO— The following Welsh poem, by an Archdeacon of Merioneth, is from the St. Beuno's Coll. MS. H.W.L. Dail hh'ion crinion, nid cryno—mo'u dull, A thrwy ei chvll i sugno; Ffri o'r anadl yw ffroenio, Mwg wr gwrs a megin go'. Dau gynydd y sydd yn suddo—bonedd, Yn benna' tybacco ; A'r ail fydd ar ei ol fo, Cam eisus canvsio. Baria carwsfa crasfwg— o'r bibell, A'r bobl rhuad ddnvg ; Lie gwelech hyllu gohvg, Chwith yw'r modd a chwythu mwg. Tra fych byw a gwych, lieb gur—nag amvyd, Na gwenwyn n'a llafur ; Xac arfer, drwy sychder sur, Mwg dail, rhag magu dolur Edmwxt Prys a'i kant. QUERIES. OLD CHURCH TREASURES AT NEWTOWN. In Arch. Camb., Jan. 1S50, " W." writes to ask what has been done about the ancient rood-screen belonging to this church, also the fate of the altar, with its "slab of veined marble," and the "altar-piece, painted and pre¬ sented by Dyer, the poet, the subject being The Last Supper?" No answer appeared. Where are they all now ? I have not been in Newtown for many years. Is the Old Church still standing? H. B. REPLIES. ON THE LOCALITY OF MACKERFIELD. (May 22, 1878.) The remaining topics of Mr. Littler's argument are, for the most part, so interwoven together that it may be diffi¬ cult to take them separately. I propose to deal with them, therefore, in the order in which they naturally occur in the course of my argument. And, as the latter part of Mr. Littler's reasoning turns very much upon the direc¬ tion that might naturally have been taken in the invasion of Northumbria from Mercia by Penda, I will commence with examining his hypothesis, and the manner in which he brings it to bear upon the conclusion he seeks to estab¬ lish. " Oswestry," he says, " is 40 miles within the terri¬ tory of Penda, the sovereign of Mercia. . . . Why should Oswald and Penda be fighting at that remote corner of Penda's dominions, unless like duellists they had gone to an obscure corner to have it out privately ? But Winwick is in the direct high road of an enemy advancing from Mercia upon an antagonist in Northumbria." Then he proceeds to infer that because the Derbyshire hills on the east, and the Mersey, the Marshes, and Chat Moss on the west, would present impassable barriers to an army invading Northumbria out of Mercia, therefore Oswald would probably have been slain at Winwick, near which has been discovered part of a Roman road running in a