Welsh Journals

Nov., 1879. BYE-GONES. 323 continued in the male line for three generations, then a daughter carried the " famous house " by marriage to the Astley family, and eventually the Earl of Tankerville, grandson to this Lady Astley, became its owner. How high Mr. Prince rose in the law we know not, but his local claim to notice is a sufficient warrant for alluding to him in these records. PRITCHARD, Arthur, a native of Herefordshire, who flourished in the latter part of the sixteenth century, was noted as a Bard, but all his writings were in the ancient British language. A large volume of his pieces in MSS. had been collected, arranged, and carefully preserved by Mr. Thomas Johnes, and some of his handwork has been printed by the late John Jones of Llanrwst. He died in 1610, and according to common report was buried at Hereford. PRITCHARD, Edward, who was buried at Whitting- ton, Salop, in the year 1748, must have been a strange character. He was born in 1670, within the borders of Shropshire, where he followed the calling of a surgeon, being accounted clever in his art, but for many years of his life he was known as an accomplished highwayman, and the head of a gang who committed great depredations upon the public. He never allowed any of his neighbours to be molested, but strangers he had no mercy upon. How he escaped detection is wonderful, for his fame was universal. Long before his death he gave up his wicked practices and satisfied his conscience with the reflection "that he had never committed murder" ; and dying peacably in his bed, at the great age of seventy-eight, 'tis said, his neighbours " mourned for him as for a friend !" PRO BY, Sir Peter, a Salopian by birth, and one of the fortunate adventurers who hastened to London to court fortune in the good old times when men grew honestly rich. He is enrolled as a member of the Grocers' Com¬ pany, an Alderman of Queenhithe, Sheriff of London in 1614, and Lord Mayor in 1622. Maitland states that he had been appointed " Governor of the Colony of Ulster in Ireland, by a special commission from the King and City of London (and) repaired thither attended by divers of the most eminent citizens for regulating certain affairs belong¬ ing to the plantation, taking along with him two rich swords of state as a present from the city, to be carried before the Mayors of Londonderry and Colerain, the former whereof being by the King some time before erected into a city, and the latter into a Corporate town." There are several scattered notices of him to be met with, and we conclude from a perusal of them that he was possessed of considerable abilities, and that he stood very high in public esteem. PUGH, Charles, a printer at Hereford, was, accord¬ ing to a document signed by Mr. Heath, a native of that county, and most deserving of mention as the founder of The Hereford Journal in August, 1770. He died probably in 1788, for his sister carried the paper on for some weeks in that year, when it passed into the hands of John Duncomb, M.A., who conducted and printed it till June, 1791. Mr. David Walker succeeded him, and he carried it on till March, 1802, when it fell into the hands of Mr. Wright, who acted as editor and publisher. It is not too much to say of any respectably conducted newspaper that it is a great educational instrument and ajdefence against oppres¬ sion. Any man who risks money in the promotion of so valu¬ able an instrument for good, is deserving of all honour as a public benefactor. Mr. Pugh, as one of the earliest of ^ch patriots, is especially to be commended to public notice in any work relating to the Border Counties of Wales. PUGH, Theophilus, was born at Shrewsbury in 1801, and in 1826 he was ordained by the Methodists as a mis¬ sionary to the West Indies. His labours in those Islands are referred to with great approbation. When in 1843 he returned to his native land, he was welcomed to the home ser¬ vice, and was appointed to various circuits in succession, and sometimes he filled the dignified office of Chairman of District. In 1865 he was put on the list of supernu¬ meraries, and thenceforth to 1874, when he died, he served his denomination with acceptance, and was greatly hon¬ oured by all his brethren. If the readers of these records would desire to know the condition of the West India pos¬ sessions in the early days of the present century, let them read Crowther's Life of Dr. Coke, and they can then better appreciate the labours of men like Mr. Pugh, who for Christ's sake, gave up everything that is dear to most men, for the good of the heathen. NOVEMBER 5, 1879. NOTES. THE OSWESTRY "JUSTICE. "-From the period that Charles II. gave us a Mayor, down to the time that a rude Act of Parliament took away from him much of his dignity ; during the year after he served the office he was not called the Ex-Mayor (in his judicial capa¬ city), but "the Justice." Thus, in 1804, amongst the Com¬ mittee of Management of the Association for the Prevention of Crime, we have "The Mayor and Justice of Oswestry." He also served as Coroner during the year following the one on which he was Mayor. Permanent Justices and Coroner were appointed under the provisions of the Muni¬ cipal Corporations Act of 1835, and from that time "the Ex-Mayor" ranks as the junior on the Bench and the Coroner is not a magistrate. Jarco. QUERIES. CHURCH BELLS (Aug. 27, 1879.) — Hordley Church (near Ellesmere) is in process of restoration, a little Norman Church of 1150—1200 probably. One of the two bells seems to be co-eval with the Church, and has this inscription: " Sancta Trinitas ora pro rnobis. Can anv one furnish a parallel to such a curious invoca¬ tion? Cucullus. MOTTO OF SHREWSBURY SCHOOL.—When visiting Shrewsbury some weeks ago, I copied down the following motto from over the principal entrance, exactly as here transcribed, except that the original is in capitals: (j>iXofJLadr)<; iav rjs ivr] iroXvfxaO^. I though it strange that such forms as rjs for y s and icrr) for eery should occur in the motto of a school that has been so long deservedly celebrated for proficiency in Greek.^ I am curious to know whether any one else ever noticed these errors and called attention to them ? Jn Notes and Queries. U».d. REPLIES. MAENATTYN (Oct. 15, 1879).-Almost without exception a name of a person follows Maen and Llan. For instance, Maen Twrog, Maen Gwynedd,. Maen Efa, FlTntshire, Maen Llia (or Leo), Maen Arthur m numerous places ana Maen Tysilio, a public house until lately at SSas near Oswestry. Attyn in Maen Attyn, is pro¬ bably a person's name. The church of Sylattyn (also snelt Selattyn and Yslattyn appears as well to have re¬ gainedI the name, and both places are within afew miles to