Welsh Journals

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Oct., 1883. BYE-GONES. 301 A new parish church has been opened at Capel Curig, on a site given by Lord Penrhyn, at the corner where the Holyhead road turns off for Bangor. Miss Webb, sister of the famous swimmer, has been drowned in Klip river, Ladystnith, Natal. She was alone ■when the sad fatality took place, and it is not known how she came to be in the river. Her body was found at a spot two miles away from home. The Institute of Agriculture for the promotion of Agri¬ cultural Education has issued its programme of lectures for the approaching season. The list is a very exhaustive one,and amongst others there will be a course of ten lectures on "'The Diseases of Farm Crops," by Mr. Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S., a gentleman well known in the Princi¬ pality as the draughtsman of the Cambrian Archaeological Society. The members of the Menai Society visited the "Druid- ical Circles " at Penmaenmawr the other day, and Arch¬ deacon Evans delivered an address. He contended that there was no evidence to support the statement that the Druids offered human sacrifices. They had high concep¬ tions of God, and taught the immortality of the soul,while they had a culture far surpassing that which they were usually credited with. They taught natural theology, geography, and physical science. Archdeacon Evans added that the stone circles were their temples, the circle being their symbol of the Divine Being ; but this theory has yet to be proved. An interesting cave discovery in North Wales has been made by Dr. Hicks at the back of Ffynnon Beuno, Flintshire. The cave is a water-worn one in the limestone rock, and after a general inspection of the interior Dr. Hicks discoveredla virgin floor of stalagmite, which was disclosed after the removal of a few inches of the surface debris. Beneath this flooring several pieces of bone were found, some of which were of large size, and are supposed to have belonged to the mammoth rhinoceros. One of these pieces was imbedded in the flooring of stalagmite. Further investigation disclosed another floor of stalagmite some distance below the first one, and resting upon the gravel which had drifted and covered the bottom of the cave. The cave is said to be similar to the celebrated Cefn bone caves. At a meeting of the British Association Mr. G. W. Bloxam read the final report of the Anthropometric Com¬ mittee, which was originally appointed in 1875, for the purpose of collecting observations on the systematic ex¬ amination of the height, weight, and other physical charac¬ teristics of the inhabitants of the British _Isles. _ The committee had made examinations on about 53,000 indivi¬ duals of both sexes and of all ages from which to conduct their tables and to base their calculations. The committee find that the Scotch are the tallest and heaviest, the English take the third place in both tables, andthe Irish, occupying the second place in stature, come last in weight; and the Welsh, though lowest in stature, stand second in weight. For each inch of stature a Scotchman weighs 2 4061bs., a Welshman 2'3751bs., an Englishman 2■3011bs., and an Irishman 2'2701b8. If each country had to con¬ tribute its relative quota of soldiers, the minimum stand¬ ard for Welsh recruits should be 2 inches lower, and for English and Irish recruits 1 inch lower than for Scotch recruits. In height the inhabitants of Denbigh and Flint average more than those of the four other counties of North Wales, and Shropshire stands lower still, in the last rank of all.—Mr. J. Park Harrison said he was a mem¬ ber of the Anthropometric Committee, and he desired it to be known that he dissented from some of the conclu¬ sions that the committee had arrived at. OCTOBER 3, 1883. OSWESTRY CHARTERS.—In a note published Feb. 8,1882, I called attention to some variations in the emblazoning of the arms of Philip, Earl of Arundel, as depicted on the charter he granted to Oswestry and as described in Davies's MS. (Harl. MSS. No. 1981). Mr. Maxwell Lvte. when he was inspecting the Oswestry documents the other day, explained how this was -.—Where the charter, when fresh and new was bright with silver, age and decay has turned it into a dense black, so that, really, there is no difference in the descriptions. There are some errors, as pointed out in the same note, in the illus¬ tration given in Trans, of the Shrop. Arch. Society. - -Jarco. NOTES. MR. RAY'S ITINERARIES (Sep. 12, 1883).— The following complete, for the present, our extracts irom these Itineraries of 1662 :— " We were told [at Carnarvon] a Legend of one St, Byno, who lived at Clenog-vaur, and was wont to foot it four miles in the night to Llaynhayme, and there, on a stone, in the midst of a river, to say his prayers ; whereon they shew you still the Prints of his Knees : His Man, out of curiosity, followed him once to this place, to see and ob¬ serve what he did. The Saint coming from his Prayers, and espying a Man, not knowing who it was, prayed, that if he came with a good Intent, he might received the Good he came for, and might suffer no Damage ; but if he had any ill Design, that some Example might be thewn upon him ; whereupon presently there came forth Wild Beasts, and tore him to Pieces. Afterwards, the Saint perceiving it was his own Servant, was very sorry, gathered up his Bones, and praying, he set Bone to Bone, and Limb to Limb, and the Man became whole again, only the Part of the Bone under the Eye-brow was wanting ; the Saint, to supply the Defect, applied the Iron of his Pike-staff to the Place, and thence the Village was called Llanvilhayrne: But for a Punishment to his Man (after he had given him Llanvil-hayrne) he prayed (and obtained his Prayer) that Clenogvaur Bell might be heard as far as Llanvil-hayrne Church-Yard, but upon stepping into the Church it was tobe heard no longer ; this the People bereabout assert with much Confidence, upon their own Experience, to be true. This Saint was a South-Wales Man, and when he died, the South- Wales Men contended with the Clenogvaur Men for his Body, and continued the Contention till Night ; next Morning there were two Biers and two Coffins there, and so the South-Wales Men carried one away, and the Clenogvaur Men the other." In the Lakes hereabout, viv., at Llanberis, Bcttws, Fcstiniog, there is a Fish taken called Torgoch, blackish upon the Back, Red under the Belly (unde Nomen), of which they tell some fabulous Stories, as that three Sons of the Church brought them from Rome, and put them into three Lakes, to wit, Llanberis, LIynumber, and Tra- vennyn, into each two. They are taken in each Lake, but at one time of the Year, and at a different time in the several Lakes. At Llanberis they say, that they are there taken only in the Night, and that when it is not Moon shine. At Clenog we saw St. Bayno's Tomb, whereupon (they say) if a sick Person be layd for three Weeks, upon every Friday, after the third Friday he will suddenly recover or die. There are still to be seen Ruins of an old Church, [at Bardsey], three more they told us of. Near these Ruina is a Heap of dead Men's Skulls, and other Bones of such Votaries, as, for the Sanctity of the Place, had been buried there. 39