Welsh Journals

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Apr., 1883. BYE-GONES. 213 APRIL 4, 1883. NOTES. GWALLTER MECHAIN.— It was customary in Llanrhaiadr parish (in common, I believe, with other parishes) at times to collect a rate called a Supplementary Poor-rate (under the old Poor-lav/ system) which was called Dreth fach. There was here one Rowland Llwyd, a rate collector, and he called upon the then Vicar, the Rev. Walter Davies, for it, saying—"Mai 'dreth fach ydy' hon Mr. Davies, mi gewch o yn ol yn y dreth arall, Syr." The old Vicar turned on his heels, and in a gruff voice answered Rowland as follows :— " Ni waeth i rri myn'd i 'mofyn caws o fol ci Na dim yn ol o'th ddwylaw di." Now, there is a proverb as follows— " Waeth h?b fyn'd i 'nol caws o kenel y corgi." Jany. 4, 1878. " T.W.H. FAIRY RINGS. —The Gentleman s Magazine for 1882. contains several articles of interest to Welshmen. Of direct interest are two by Mr. Grant Allen—"An English Shire," and "The Welsh in the West Country," and a journal of Dean Swift's (previously unpublished) kept dur¬ ing an enforced stay of several days at Holyhead in 1726. Of less direct interest are the monthly "Science Notes " of Mr. W. Mattieu Williams, F.RA.S., whose facile and masterful pen may touch on anything from the " Birth of the Moon " down to the " Origin of Fairy Rings." Some¬ thing had struck me in one of the early " notes " that Mr. Williams was probably a Welshman ; that he was " my countryman, and yet I knew him not;" and how near the guess must have been I leave this note on Fairy Rings to show as far as may be. He begins by saying that Science has made many attempts at explaining the origin of these "Rings," and has not succeeded in doing so. He has a theory of his own, which, halting as it may be, he will expound. He says :— " I occupied during a few years a house on the slope of the Hope Mountain, near Caergwrle, in Flintshire. The house is named ' Celyn ' on the Ordnance Maps. It com¬ mands a fine view of the Alyn valley and country beyond. The most conspicuous of the pasture fields displayed below had no fairy rings during the first and second years of my residence in the Celyn ; but on the third a large crop of them came into existence. They were arranged in orderly rows, and so conspicuous that they forced themselves con¬ tinuously on my attention—were, in fact, almost irritating by their persistent appeals for explanation. They worried me thus every day from the September of one year to the July of the next, excepting when the snow was on the ground. "I walked down frequently to the field and examined the troublesome things, finding them always the same— viz., nearly true circles, and composed of coarser grass than that surrounding them, and at times with a crop of small fungi dotted over them. They varied very little in size, were about six feet in diameter—too small to have been the track of any tethered animal,—but they evidently had received some kind of special manuring. "Suddenly, on one bright July morning the mystery was solved. A crop of grass had been mowed, tossed, and winnowed, and was now in cocks ready for carrying to the stack. The circumference of the base of these cocks corresponded almost accurately with that of the fairy rings; their numbers and arrangements were nearly iden¬ tical; some of the cocks actually covered the area en¬ closed by the ringlets of the demi-puppets. i " Then I remembered the history of the last year's har- j vest on that particular field. A weary continuance of drenching rain commenced just when the grass was cocked as now, and it remained thus on the ground fur several weeks until almost black with fungoid rotting. Here, then, was the explanation. The juices of the rotting grass had been wa-hed down the slopes of the cocks, and with these juices were the fungus germs which had soured the ground. " I hope this note may indue; others to repeat my ob¬ servation by looking for these fairy rings, and, when they find them, enquiring whether any kind of heap of vege¬ table matter formerly occupied the area included within their circuit." D..T. PHILIP HENRY'S DIAL11ES (Mar. 28, 18S3).— We this week give another instalment from Mr. Lee's interesting book :— 1679. At Drayton this summer a swarm of Bees knit upon a horse back in the Pinfold & stung him to Death. Hee that impounded the Horse is like to pay the price of him, because hee put a bridle in his head & rode him thither from y'e ground in which hee took him, which it seemes hee ought not to have done. July 19, 21. About this time were executed two Priests, condemn'd the last Assize by S'r Job Charlton, the one at Denbigh, the other at Chester,—they were hang'd, drawn, & quarter'd—as were also several others in other Countyes. Nov. 2. dy'd the good lady Wilbraham of Woodhey in a good old age. No sickness but a payn in one heel, for 6 dayes, which after her death was found black. 1680. Jan, 29. an oak, a day, & a man are unknown what they are till they are try'd. Welsh Proverb. Mar. 23. at buryal of Cos. John Beddow at Hanmer hee forbad the Min'r Mr. Hilton (his Execu'r to bury him only) to say any th. of him, left his goods & cattle to his servant Benj. Venables, £100 to Hanm'r poor &c. ut fertur. John Brookf. told mee hee appointed y'e candle should not goe out in y'e chamber where hee lay, till hee was carryd out. 27 John Smith upon his Death bed repented that hee had taken so much Tobacco. Apr. 10 A Fox taken in Fenns Park, with yong ones, 6 weekes old. The old one lying dead, One of y'e yong ones playing by they put his mouth to one of y'e Teats of his dead dam, whereupon immediately hee fell a quaking, stasger'd a while, & dy'd. May 30. One Brookes of Nantwych aged about 55, a sawy'r, a loose p'son, went with others on this day being Sabb. day in the afternoon to Chorley hay to steal a pole for a May-pole having agreed with a fiddler to attend y'e setting of it up next day: After hee had given a few strokes with an Axe towards y'e falling of it, it pleas'd God hee was struck down hims'f & dy'd immediately without speak¬ ing one word in y'e very same place. July 3. this day & yesterday brought tidings of y'e Death of Mr. Heanes late of Salop, Wem, & new chap, in Westmin'r a worthy conformist & I believe gone to Heaveu, also Mr. Rich. Edwards late of Oswestree, an honest, peaceable, good man & of y'e same Spirit, who did but conform but with regret, both of them my worthy Friends, lord rayse up others in their room to bee & doe better. Dec. 10. wee first saw y'e tail of y'e Comet, smal. 15. y'e Comet its'f playn, y'e tail _ large, from y'e Horizon westw. almost to y'e Zenith, its motion from south to north, after 8. at night not appearing. The middlemost star in y'e Vultur Volans was near y'e middle of y'e Comet's tayl for an hour or more. 23