Welsh Journals

200 BYE-GONES. Mar., 1883. mob. Meetings in-doors were noisy and demonstrative. In one held at the Old Chapel—with Mr. Longueville in the chair, I think—a speaker said " Teetotalisra was com¬ mended in every page of the Bible ;" whereupon the inevitable " Minshull the Printer," who occupied a seat in a side aisle, shouted out, "That's a lie!" Up jumped Mr. Davies (who was on the other side the building), who without more ado, climbed over the sides of the interven¬ ing pews, and collared the objector to turn him out. Which was the stronger I forget, but the next day Min¬ shull had Davies before the magistrates for an assault, and before the week was out published a ballad on " The Reverunt Tummy Davies's fruitless striving over the body of poor Minshull the Printer," stating at the foot of it, that copies were two-penc- each ; " the profits to be devoted to cleaning the Chapel after future Teetotal meetings ! " During these early days of Teetotalism it was soon dis¬ covered that 'converts,' eschewing the public-house had no house of entertainment in which to spend the evening ; and to i.vl r. Davies mu<t be ascribed the honour of establishing the first Tempera^ ce House iu Oswestry,—the precursor of our modern Harlech Castles ! The ' Reverend ' in the ballad referred to Mr. Davies's occupation as a village preacher. At that time he was connected with the Old Chapel; but when a branch of the Independent Methodist Church was established in Oswes¬ try, he allied himself with that communion, as more in harmony with his doctrinal views. Mr. D ivies wrote two or three little books. The first (which must have been issued more than half a century ago) %vas entitled " A Looking-Gla<s for the Mind," and was, I believe, in the form of a Dialogue. When a prize was offered for the best essay on the Observance of the Sabbath (which your readers will remember was awarded to the author of " The Pearl of Days') Mr. Davies was a competitor. His impulsive nature was manifested characteristically in this. One night after he had gone to bed a " happy thought " struck him ; and he could not wait to light a candle ; so took a bit of chalk out of his pocket, «nd with it wrote the thought upon the wall! This he amplified into an essay, which he entitled " England's Glory." Increasing age and infirmities of late years subdued Mr. Davies's ardour; but up to almost the last he preached; and his long life was spent in working, as far as in him lay, for the best interests of his friends and neighbours. Mr. Davies was born at Bangor Iscoed, on 11th May, 1794, a™d came to Oswestry—into the employ of the late Mr. Robarts, plumber; the man who introduced gas into Shropshire,—in 1811; so he was a resident of Oswestry for more than seventy years. MARCH 7, 1883. NOTES. JOHN HOWELS DJARY.—In Bye-gones for Jan. 31, we quoted something about the Wyuns.ay family from the Diary of John Howei, a farmer who resided in North East Shropshire more than a century ago. We this week give some extracts shewing the ruling prices at that date. Ed. Jan. 27, 1765. Margt. Maddox had of wool 38li Being 2 stone & \ at 16s. pr'one 2. 0. 0 July 3 Due to Mrs. Elizabeth Peirce for Wool from Henry Humphreys 4 stone & 3 Lumps 3. 6. 0 Sep 24 had of Francis Mullinor Kump of Beef wg't 19li at 2% per pound Being 3s. ll^d. Dec 19 George Isaac had \ strick of wheat 3s. 3d. To the 25 March 1766 John Jones work'd 17 days at 5d. To 20 April 10 days at 6d. 20/i of clover seed at 6d. per pound. Apr 15, 1766. Thomas Hall D'r for pease four measures at 6s. Do had 3 Thrave of Straw wheat. Two to pay for at 4s. 22 Do tenn hundred of hay at 3s. Apr ye 25th. Richard Davies D'r to John Howel for Two bushel oats 1. 12. 0 May 7 David Evans D'r for four strick Barley at 4s. 4d. May the 23d Waied of cheese for John & Prudence Jones then Twenty & nine hundred and Eighty seven pound at 30s. per hundred to be p'd for 2940 pound at 3d. p'r 11. 44. 0.0. John Edwards his wagis from May 1767 to May 1768 3.17.6 PARISH OF BUCKLEY, CHESHIRE,—Border readers will perhaps be interested in the following tran¬ script of the title page of a pamphlet preserved in Brit. Mus. Library :— "The late dreadful and most admired Calamity of a Parcel of Land and many Great Oaks and other Trees sunk many yards under ground into so deep a Water that the tops of the highest Oaks are not to be seen. Together with a great quantity of land and other Trees that are daily falling ; and the Thundering noise that is made at the time of this most terrible fall near unto the Parish of Buckley, abjut nine miles from Chester, it being part of the land of the late Lord Cholmley. "This strange accident hapned on the 8th day of Iuly 1657. "London: Printed for Thos. Vere, and William Gilbertsou without Newgate and in Giltspur Street, 1657." Half the pamphlet is taken up with a classical disquisition upon couvuisious of nature, followed by some religious moralising. The descriptive part of the subject is short. Uther local events of a strange character are also mentioned, such as the "solemn miracle" which customarily shows itself at the death of every one, male or female, of a certain honourable family in the county of Chester. Upon the decease of any of them there will arise out of a pool ad¬ jacent to the house, the bodies of great trees, which for a certain (time ?) will float upon the water, and of their own accord sink again into the bottom. D.J. THE REV. JENKIN LEWIS OF LLANFYLLIN (Feb. 21, 1883).—The following is the text of the declara¬ tion of the Llaufyllin rioters signed by them to avoid going to gaol:—" Whereas, on the evening of the 22nd of Sep¬ tember, 1787, several persons, to the number of eighteen, or upwards, unlawfully and riotously assembled at the dwelling-house of John Hughes, of the parish of Llan- lyllin, in the county of Montgomery, taylor, and broke into the same (some of them having their faces masked) and afterwards assaulted the said John Hughes and Elizabeth, his wife; and also the Rev. Jenkin Lewis, Protestant Dissenting Minister of Llanfyllin, aforesaid, who was then there on a visit, and dragged them all three out of the house, an l then cast the said John Hughes and Mr, Lewis down to the ground; and,having surrounded them, beat and kicked them in a cruel and barbarous manuer; and it is probable that, in their rage, they would have committed murder, if the neighbourhood bad not been alarmed, and caused them to make off. And whereas a prosecution has been commenced in the Court of Great Sessions for the county of Montgomery, against Us whose names are hereunder written, and others who have fled their country, as parties concerned in the above riot; but, on our proposing to make this public concession for our fault, and binding ourselves for our good behaviour here-