Welsh Journals

64 BYE-GONES. May, 1832. HISTORY OF ABERYSTRUTH—We often hear lamentations made over the lack of a recognized Welsh metropolis. The grievance is a purely sentimental one, at least at this late time of day. A far more serious lack, and one from which the national literature will con¬ tinue to suffer until it is supplied, is that of enterprize in the book trade. Would that a Welsh " Chambers " would arise and publish, in a cheap and popular form, those works of the writers of the last, and the early part of this century, which have sunk into unmerited neglect, for no other reason than that no one has cared to re-publish them. A score of such works might readily be named by any one at all conversant with the Anglo-Welsh literature of the period named. I shall content myself at this time with mentioning the exceedingly curious " History of the Parish of Aberystruth" (in Monmouthshire) as one of those books which are now hard to be obtained, and ought to be more widely known than by the few who have the good fortune to possess copies. To that select number of your readers who at present have the advantage of being acquainted with the Rev. Edmund Jones's remarkable book, I beg to offer a transcript of the " circular letter " sent by him to the neighbouring clergy, with a copy of his book :— Rev. Sir,—I venture upon your goodness to send you this printed account of the parish of Aberystruth, containing, as I take it, a large and curious account of that small part of the earth, both in the way of Philosophy and Divinity. By some vulgar wits, unlearned and incurious, it is derided, which puts me in mind of Solomon's saying, " Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." But how¬ ever faulty it may be in some particulars, for nothing clone by man in this world is without fault, yet no sober, unprejudiced mind, desirous of knowledge and anything curious in his contem¬ plations, can despise this treatise, containing so many rare dis¬ courses of things natural and spiritual not known or observed before.—I am, Reverend Sir, your friend and servant in Christ the Lord, Edmund Jones. The reverend gentleman was the minister of "Ebenezer," near Pontypool; and whatever may be thought of his be¬ lief in the supernatural, as judged by the intelligence of to-day, that belief was the cause of his writing one of the most singular and interesting books in the English language. It would, I think, be well if any facts connected with his life are recollected by some of your readers, that they should be recorded, for little appears to be known of him at present. D.J. POPISH CEREMONIES STILL EXISTING IN WALES. The Rev. Canon Richards said, in his lecture at St. Joseph's, Swansea, on the recent Church Congress, that the old faith, or Popery, still lingers in men's hearts and memories, and that even now the people retain in Wales many practices once belonging to the old religion. That this is so amongst the members of the Established Church is an acknowledged fact, but that such practices still exist amongst the Welsh Nonconformists may at the first be questioned. I have long observed these strange but contradictory rites with no small interest, and pos¬ sibly the pointing of them out may lead others to the same line of observation. I will first confine myself to death and burial rites. We have much that surrounds thes8 events that must have come down to us from the times when the holy fathers were the masters of the ceremonies. The Gwylnos, or watchnight, or "Wake," is still an important service in some parts of Wales, and the form of procedure varies in several localities. This takes place on the night preceding the funeral. The neighbours and friends meet about 7 p.m. in the room wherein the body has been laid. The walls of the chamber or room being covered over with linen sheets with laurel leaves pinned on to the sheets, two leaves so placed that they take the form of the letter T or a cross, at the head and feet of the body are placed a lighted candle. In a Nonconforming neigh¬ bourhood on the borders of Pembroke, Cardigan, and Car¬ marthen counties, it was customary up to within 30 years, to put a lighted candle on a plate placed on the chest of the body during the Gwylnos, whilst placing a p]ate full of salt on the body was pretty general in Montgomeryshire at one time. When the friends had arrived a portion of Scripture was read and hymns sung, and prayers offered alternately with the hymns ; when, about 9 o'clock, after several friends had offered up prayer, the Gwylnos closed, and the friends returned to their several homes. To bury without a Gwylnos was considered a mark of great disres¬ pect to the relatives and to the departed. When Anne Griffiths of Dolwar fach, the great hym- nologist, attended a funeral of a relative of the writer's she at once proceeded to the room where, on a bed, the body lay. When kneeling at the bedside she offered up a long silent prayer. At the same funeral the husband of the departed one caused a near relative to distribute a large sum of money amongst the poor people that had come to receive the dole that was thus divided previous to the " lifting of the body ;" otherwise taking the body from the house to ba buried. It is also customary to read a portion of Scripture and to pray, the body having been first brought from the room and placed on chairs, or on the bier at the door of the house. On starting from the house the company of mourners raise up their voices in a mournful hymn, and they continue singing for some distance as they leave the house. On approaching the church another hymn is sung, until the body is borne near to the Lych gate, where the officiating minister meets the funeral procession, the bells, as the funeral approaches the church, ringing the funeral toll. After the service is concluded in the church, the friends make an offering to the clergyman, this being made on a special table fixed to the altar railing. At the grave, again, another offering is made, on the sexton's spade. Every one attending where the offering custom prevails is expected to uphold, as in duty bound, the usage, by contributing his quota. Formerly on retiring from the grave, which had been decorated with the laurel and box evergreens, friends re¬ tired to the village ale-house, sometimes called the '' Church House," or " Ty'n-y-llan," where it was the custom to drink the " funeral ales " to the comfort of the relatives and the profit of the landlord, who, in no very remote times, was commonly the parish clerk. The first Sunday following the burial of the dead was called the "funeral Sunday," or the " second burial Sunday," when a special service was held, a funeral sermon delivered, and the departed largely received the encomiums of the minister, and the relatives were publicly " prayed for." At the close of the service I have known the relatives go to the grave, and there kneel for some time. Another ceremony of some peculiarity, but now nearly ob solete.is Gwylio y Corph (watching the body). This is simply the sitting up all night in the room wherein the body is laid, of one or more of the neighbours who volunteers to do this duty. And this is done each succeeding night from death until burial. Drink at one time must have been freely supplied to the Gwyliwr, or watchman, hence the adage, " Hawdd yf a wyl ei wely." " He who watches his resting place will drink freely." So much was the " drink" considered as part of the cere¬ monies at death and burial, that a special drink—strong home-brewed ale, strongly flavoured with spice and lemon —was provided, in a special vessel called a tankard. This was "served" with the "funeral cakes" just before