Welsh Journals

April, 1885. BYE-GONE S. 209 REPLIES. THE REV. DAVID LEWIS (April 22, 1885.)— The David Lewis I was asking after is not the man mentioned by "H.D." He was not only curate of Oswestry up to 1799, I believe, but also Rector of Garthbeibio and Vicar of Abernant in Carmarthenshire, and he died at Abernant in 1850, aged 90. Can anyone say who his father was 1 It seems that there were no less than three David Lewises curates of Oswestry all about the same time. H. CURRENT NOTES. Mr J. Kynoch, of Barmouth, has published a list of 259 wild flowers found in bloom there in the autumn of last year. Mr Thomas Mills of Garth, Bangor, has presented the University College of North Wales with enlarged photo¬ graphs of the members of its first Council. The Guardian states that by a recent Order in Council the patronage of Llandyssil Rectory, Montgomeryshire, and Erbistock Rectory, Denbigh and Flint, has been vested in the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester ; and that of Llanblethian Vicarage (with Cowbridge and Welsh St. Donats) and Llantrisant Vicarage,both in Glamorganshire, in the Bishop of Llandaff. This exchange of livings will be highly beneficial to the Chapter of Gloucester, as Welsh will not be required for their parishes; whilst the Bishop of Llandaff will now have two new and important parishes in his own diocese at his disposal. The death is announced of Mr Henry Halford Vaughan, formerly fellow of Oriel, and afterwards Professor of Modern History at Oxford. A correspondent of The Times writes :—To those who remember him at Oxford, either as student, Fellow, or professor, and to those who remember the charm of his conversation, at once profound, brilliant, and gracious, it will seem no exaggeration to describe him as one of the great men of his generation, though his growing love of seclusion, due partly to delicate health, and partly to an intense devotion to deep mental study, threw him early out of the ranks of competitors for conspicuous success. Mr Vaughan held for many years the responsible but obscure office of Clerk of Assize on the South Wales Circuit, living at Upton Castle, in Pembroke¬ shire, where he died. He was the younger son of the late Right Hon. Mr Justice Vaughan, by his first wife, a daughter of Lord St. John of Bletsoe. He leaves a son and four daughters. In their final report the Cathedrals Commission make the following recommendations with regard to St. Asaph Cathedral:—That the ecclesiastical condition of the parish be hereafter regulated according to the following scheme, viz :—That there shall be one Rectory of St. Asaph, with the cure of souls attached to it, in the patronage of the Bishop ; that the Rector shall be the dean or one of the canons ; that the connection between the vicars choral, as such, and the parish church shall cease ; and, further, that the tithe rent-charge now devoted to the support of the vicars choral, amounting to about £850 per annum, should be transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the payment in future of the incomes of the vicars choral (of whom it is proposed there should be two), the augmenta¬ tion of the endowments of the parishes of Gwyddelwern, Llangar or Cynwyd, and Llawr-y-Bettws, from which a large portion of the rent-charge arises, and for the endow¬ ment of the proposed Rectory of St. Asaph. The Coming of the Swallows.—I wonder if any of your readers have noticed that this year the order of arrival in the swallow tribe has been reversed. In former years sand martins came first, then house martins and then swallows. This year the swallow was seen on April 17, and the sand martins and house martins about the 23rd. Nearly all our summer visitors are later than usual, Chif- chaff, heard April 1st, willow wren, about April 11th, wheat ear, about April 15th, and landrail, April 25th. The late gale has been very destructive among the young rooks, for in a small space we counted no less than twenty that had been blown out of their nests.—Tantara. SHROPSHIE FOLK-LORE. The following interesting review of Part II. of Miss Burne's "Shropshire Folk-Lore" has appeared in the Saturday Review :— Inexperienced people might suppose that, the neces¬ sary materials being given, it would be easy to write an entertaining book on folk-lore ; but this is far from being the case. It is almost as difficult to make a book of folk¬ lore readable as a book of anecdotes or a book of jokes, and, at best, the folk-lore book is more useful as furnishing materials for historians, novelists, and poets, than as a book to be read at first hand by those who wish to be entertained. It is interesting enough to read of a local superstition, but a superstition with variations soon be¬ comes wearisome. Yet the faithful compiler of a work on folk-lore is obliged to explain that in one part of the country it is considered unlucky to see one magpie, while in another it is unlucky to see two ; that in some places three, and in others four, foretell the birth of a boy ; that four augur a wedding, according to certain authorities, and a death according to others, and that it is a question whether all these prognostications are not upset by a wise saying which begins " One for anger, two for luck," and so on. Furthermore he has to state that there are experts who consider the superstitions about magpies equally applicable to crows. Of this sort of reading it is possi¬ ble to have too much ; but the unlucky folk-lore-monger is bound to produce every variety of his wares, unless he wishes to hear his work called incomplete. The merciful critic is inclined, therefore, to take up a book of folk-lore with feelings of charitable pity for its author. He would be even more sorry for himself if he thought he were going to read it through; but of doing this he rarely has any intention, as a book of folk-lore is easily reviewed by a little dipping and a good deal of skipping. The author of the specimen before us, however, has done her work so well that she has no need to ask mercy from her critics, and her reviewer who comes to skip will stay to read. Part II. of " Shropshire Folk-Lore" begins in the middle of a chapter on Charming and Divination. Then follow chapters on superstitious cures, superstitions con¬ cerning animals, birds, insects, plants, the moon, the week, numbers, and dreams. There is a chapter, also, called Luck and Unluck in Daily Life ; and then we come to chapters on customs and superstitions concerning birth, marriage, death, &c. Most of the charms used by Shropshire peasants consist of some verse of the Bible written on paper, sewn up in a parcel, and worn either round the neck, on the afflicted part, or put under the pillow. Pieces of elder cut at mid¬ night and under a full moon, certain shrubs, and the grease from church bells are also used for the same pur¬ pose. Charmers prepare the greater number of their remedies for four maladies—warts, whooping-cough, toothache, and shingles. Some of their customs are de¬ cidedly cruel. One is to cut a live toad in two and give one half to the patient; another is to draw a piece of narrow black ribbon through the body of a live frog and then wear it round the neck : and a third, said to be ex- 29