Welsh Journals

252 BYE-GONES. Aug, 1879. supply the good gentlewoman with such sums of Money as she thought (for the better carrying on of the Work) she might stand in need of; and for security, they were so much her true Friends that they never refus'd the meanest Servant in the House; by which kindness they the more easier effected their ends; as you shall presently under¬ stand. " The good Woman being intangled, as you have seen, and now hardly is Mistress of anything she us'd to call her own, she laid it a little too near her heart, and was very much afflicted with melancholly, and by the care of her Trustees she was convey'd to Shrewsbury, for the better recovery of her health, and in the meantime the Estate is seiz'd by the said Preachers for the use of the Creditors; which was done so effectually, that all, or most »f the poor Servants being engaged with their Mistress, fled, for fear of the storm coming upon themselves, and left the booty to any that would take it. " Mr. P------ and Mr. ap E------ having now preach'd themselves from the Hall to every individual Room in the House, and in full possession of the whole, it's observ'd I that the usual care was taken on the Congregation is some¬ what abated, and the numbers begin to lessen, not only in the Weekly-Meetings, but in the Great and Monthly Meet¬ ing, which was celebrated with breaking of Bread in the evening, after a good Dinner at noon; the defect of the latter does seem much to impair the use of the former; to prevent such an evil, will take up some time and cost. "And now, my good Country-man, as I have always heard a very good report of your Justice and Integrity, and your willingness to imploy your self upon all occasions wherein you might serve your Generation in any honour¬ able undertaking, let me desire you to consider the sighs of the poor abus'd Widow, and find some expedient that she may be restor'd to her House and Estate; for in all probability that may be the only effectual way of a certain Cure; for so great a burden is too hard for one shoulder, (as appears by our object;) but if laid upon the whole, it will not only cure a Distemper in her, but in many hun¬ dreds, who (it's fear'd) are infected, more or less, with the spoils of a devoured Widows House; And if by your spiritual Comforts to the poor Woman you are successful, no doubt bvt it will be an acceptable piece of Service, and a much greater to God and the whole Kingdom, if your fatherly Admonitions against such Practices, there shall be no occasion for the\ future to make any Complaints of this kind. My service to the Brethren, but more especially to your self: I am a hearty well-wisher, and your Country-man. "J.M." "Oswalstree in the County of "Salop, July 20, lbSl. "London: Printed for Al. Banks, 1G81." This is printed on a single leaf. Now we have, as I hope to show another week, evidence in existence which goes to prove that the information conveyed to Baxter by " J.M." cannot be correct, and I should be glad if some of your readers will explain what is meant by " the Par¬ ticular Resident in London ?" and still more if they can throw any light on the various persons represented by initials, not one of whom can I trace in any documents to which i have access. Jarco. REPLIES. GRIFFITH ROBERTS'S WELSH GRAMMAR (July 23, 1879).—It may as well be stated that the Wynnstay copy of Griffith Roberts's Welsh Grammar ia the one to which I referred in my letter in the Athenaeum of May 17, 1879, and which is now in course of re-publica¬ tion in Paris. D. Silvan Evans. FREEDOM OF BOROUGHS (July 9, 1879.)—If Capt. Edward William Campbell Rich Owen, who was afterwards knighted and became Admiral, was the son of Capt. William Owen, who was Mayor of Shrewsbury in 1775, he must have been a freeman by birth. If, there¬ fore, the Corporation voted the Freedom of the Borough to him it was a work of supererogation. It is more pro¬ bable that he was on that day sworn and admitted a freeman. W.H. Shrewsbury. WELSH LITERATURE (July 16, 1879).—Ap- pended to the Welsh Book of Common Prayer, 1621, is Archdeacon Edmund Prys' Metrical Version of the Psalms. Both the Prayer Book and Psalms are in Gothic type, or black letter. They are usually bound, as they were published, together; but as they have distinct title-pages they are now often found separated. The size is 4to. This is probably the copy in the possession of your corre¬ spondent " W.H." As to the other bock—the translation of T. A'Kempis' "Imitation of Christ"—there were two editions in the 17th century, one in 1679, and the other in 1684, but neither was printed by Thomas Durston, who began his business some years later. He printed a great number of Welsh books between 1700 and 1760, some in wretched type, and nearly all without a date. He ap¬ pears to have had a diabolical dread of even mentioning the Annum Domini. E.B. WILLIAM OWEN (June 25, 1879).—If Mr. Evans will call at the Powysland Museum the next time he goes to Welshpool, he will find in the Reprint of Bye- gones 1876-7, deposited in the Library there, a notice of William Owen in Mr. Salisbury's Worthies. He was Shropshire born not Welsh. Blackpool. William Owen, the portrait painter, was not a Welshman, but the son of a bookseller at Ludlow, where he was was born in 1769, the year that also produced Sir Thomas Lawrence. He studied for some time under Charles Catton, the Royal Academician, and his genius soon attracted the notice of Sir Joshua Reynolds, then president of the Royal Academy. Although Owen occa¬ sionally indulged in " fancy pieces," he is best known to the art world by his portraits of Lord Chancellor Lough¬ borough, Lord Eldon, Lord Stowell, Sir William Scott, &c. At thirty-seven he wa3 elected R.A., and soon after¬ wards became portrait painter to the Prince Regent. He was now in the height of his popularity ; and his studio?, first in Leicester-square and subsequently in the neigh¬ bourhood of Bruton-street, were resorted to by the highest in the land, notwithstanding the celebrity of Lawrence; then p.p, to the King and president of the Academy, Hoppner, R.A., Romney, the over-estimated Beechy, R.A., and p.p. to Queen Charlotte, and several other celebrated masters in the same department of art. In 1820 Owen was seized with paralysis, and for the next five years of his life he continued a helpless invalid. He died in February, 1825, from a quantity of opium which he swallowed in mistake for an aperient medicine. Severn Grove, Llanidloes. Hugh Jerman. AUGUST 6, 1879. NOTES. DRINKING SEA WATER.—Our grandfathers- perhaps because they were put to more trouble and ex¬ pense in visiting the coast than we are—seem to have made more of their visits to the sea than we do. I read in a newspaper published in Aug. 1805, that " The increasing