Welsh Journals

June, 1882. BYE-GONES. 75 the results by a series of returns, but it is obviously im¬ possible for a private individual to undertake the task in its entirety. He felt sure that the Society, as well as himself, would feel grateful to those who had furnished him with the information contained in his paper. Mr. B. T. Williams, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Ellis for his valuable paper, took occasion to protest against the views advocated at a recent meeting, held at Swansea, which seemed to him to reduce the proposed new colleges for Wales to the level of Enlarged Mechanics Institutes. There was the nucleus of a large University now at Aberystwyth, and if another one was established and successfully carried out by the co-operation of the Welsh people, that would be what the Welsh people want to enable them to compete on equal terms with other parts of the United Kingdom. Dr. Isambard Owen, M.A., seconded the proposed vote of thanks, and dwelt on Mr. Ellis's other services to the Society in connection with the Welsh dialect section. In the course of his remarks, Dr. Owen said, on the testi¬ mony of the Rev. W. Walking, M.A., that the present Monmouthshire Welsh is not the original Welsh dialect of that district, but is Welsh as imported principally from Glamorganshire.—Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, re¬ plying to this observation, detailed some of his linguistic experiences in the neighbourhood of Tredegar, &c.—Mr. Howel Lloyd regretted to find from the preceding speakers that there was not now much hope of tracing the old Silurian dialect of Monmouthshire.—The vote of thanks was passed with great cordiality, and Mr. Ellis briefly responded.—Thanks were accorded to Mr. B. T. Williams for presiding, on the motion of the Rev. John Davies, M.A., seconded by Mr. C. W. Jones. JUNE 7, 1882, NOTES. FOLK LORE.—Touching a Corpse.—When I was •a boy it was always customary in the Corwen district to put your fingers on the forehead of a corpse when taken to see it, or it would appear to you in your dreams. Does this custom prevail elsewhere ? Bonwm. THE WREKIN—In Add. MSS. 15,021 British Museum, there is preserved on p. 105 etseq. some corres¬ pondence which took place in the years 1759-60 between Mr. Lewis Morris, Edward Richard, schoolmaster, Ystrad Meurig, Dr. Philips of Blaenpant, and the Rev. Samuel Pegge of Whittington in Derbyshire, relative to the etymologies of the names of mountains and rivers in England, &c. It may be noticed that certain names were put forward by the Rev. S. Pegge, and answered by L. Morris, E. Evans, and Jones of Llanegryn—among them that of the Wrekin. Mr. Evan Evans derives it thus :— Wrecin—in the British Brecyn, from Bre, a hill, and <hoynt, wind. Mr. Jones, Llanegryn—Wrekin—British —Wrych-Kefn, a rough shrubby bank. Bookworm. CIVIL WAR "NEWS LETTER."—Among the family papers preserved at Sandford, co. Salop, is an ori¬ ginal News Letter received by Mr. Arthur Sandford, sen., probably from one or other of his sons marshalled under the banner of King Charles .— Vpon Wensdaylast the Kinge marched with 6500 ffoote* neere 3000 horse after Essex, and that night ioyned with P: Maurice who hath with him effectually 7000 ffoote besides horse. *-S8ex is marched to wards Plimmouth, where hee hath 80 sayle <* ships to Attend him. Waller lay on Munday last att Marl- oourough, Butt cannott now joyne with Essex. My lord Hopton marched on Thursday last after the Kinge with 3500 ffoote, and Collonell Digby is by this time with the Kinge out of Cornwall with att Least 3000 ffoote more. Al this was affirmed by my lord Hopton's l'res, and likewise the King's l'res sent to Bristoll att 12 of the Clocke on Satturday to be true, beinge July 27,1644 Letters of this class were almost the only means then available by which the rise or fall of the Royal Cause could be made known to adherents at a distance. Chester. T. Hughes. POPISH CEREMONIES IN WALES. (May 17, 1882). It is curious to observe the remains of a Roman ritual still to be found in the religious services of a people so opposed in their profession to all that savours of Popery, and how they cling to these ceremonies as to a religious duty of no small importance, conscientiously performing them as a part of an orthodox ritual common to all Christian bodies. I would first mention the solemn awe with which a chapel is entered, and how, as in olden times, a short prayer is offered with the face buried in the hat or hid in the depths of the pew, and this before the worshipper takes his seat, evidently, though without intending, in reverence of a visible sacred presence that once was de¬ picted either with chisel or brush of the Holy Mother and Child. The separation of the sexes is still strictly ad¬ hered to in some places ia public worship, and is pretty general in all the private meetings, " Societies," or Church meetings of the communicants. These meetings, it is worthy of note, are held as a rule on Friday evening, and ia some places on Wednesday evening—days set apart by the Church of Rome for Special religious duties. W. Hone, in his "Ancient Mysteries Described," quoting from an old book, says—" On the evening of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the Church performs a solemn office called Tenebrae. The name Tenebrae is given to it from the ceremony of extinguishing all the candles during the course of it, till at_ last it is finished in total darkness, which is the signification of the word Tenebrae." (Page 78.) The Church meetings of the Nonconformists were formerly called in a spirit of ridicule, Y Weddi Dyioyll. (The Dark Prayer.) Rhys Jones of Blaenau, Merionethshire, in some satirical stanzas dedicated to the Calvinistic Methodists, alludes to this, and says :— " Milwrio ag ami eiriau—nod effaith, A diffodd canhwyllau ;" &c. "Loquacious wrangling and extinguishing of candles were their characteristic tendencies." Very great importance is placed on infant baptism, many mothers not daring to go out or be seen in public until the ceremony had been performed and the mother prayed for. Parents have a strong belief "that the child comes on so much better after being christened." » In no part of our religious rites are the remains so evi¬ dent as in and around the Communion Table. Ere the applicant is allowed to partake of the "elements" a month's probation is exacted, when in addition to other instruction given to the candidate, he is instructed how^ to communicate, especially to partake of the bread and wine with the right hand, and be sure that it is ungloved. The effort made to have costly cups, flagons, &c, is a comparatively modern innovation. I can well remember the cup an ordinary delph, but of the accepted and general pattern. The Table Cover has ever been of White linen, as also a Second Cloth, used for covering the Bread and Wine during the first part of the Service.^ The re¬ moval of the upper cloth, which is carefully laid aside, is ceremoniously done by one of the deacons. The breaking of bread in some cases is done by the celebrant on bended