Welsh Journals

316 BYE-GONES. Dec,, 1885. on his election to the office of First Mayor of the Ancient Borough of Montgomery, under the new Act, it may be of general interest to the Burgesses to state that, in Harl. MS. No. 744, folio 713, there is a reference—" Mont¬ gomery Borough, Confirmation of Charters, granted by Hen. IV (anno 1 p. 7, m. 5), and Richard II (anno 1 p. 6, m. 37), and Hen. V (anno. 1, p. 5, m. 8), and Hen. VI (anno 7 p. 1, m. 16), and Edward III (anno 1, No. 68)." There are references also on the same folio to documents relating to Montgomery Castle; on folio 715 to the Men of Montgomery, and the Castle of Montgomery ; on folio 725 to documents relating to the Honor of Montgomery ; on folio 727, " Montg : Vill. Cone : to ' Fitzwilliam'" 18 Edw. III. Montg. Castle, " de Vastis pertinen " (arenta- tis?) in feod: Diver : p'sonis etc (p. Anno 18, Edw. I. m. 37); also folio 735, " Montg :—a mill between there and Dudiogton." " Cone :—to Bob. Clementarius (p. Hen.|III)." And [in another MS. in the British Museum, namely Cott. CX., 15, a reference to a Charter apparently earlier than the one referred to by Major Harrison, namely, a charter granted to Montgomery in the 11th year of the reign of Hen. II. As it is some years since I made these notes, I will refer to Cott: CX. and see what the document grants, and send it to Bye-Gones, if of any interest to its readers. Pearmain. QUERIES. SIR JOHN TREVOR.—Where is the expulsion of Sir John Trevor from the Speaker's Chair of the House of Commons recorded ? • B. CONWAY CHURCH YARD.—It would be in¬ teresting to know if the following inscription still remains in Conway church yard. I met with it in an old Sporting Magazine of July, 1794 :— " Here lyeth the body of Nicholas Hooker of Conway, gent., who was the one-and-fortieth child of his father, William Hooker, Esquire, by Alice his wife, and the father of seven-and-twenty children. He died 20 day of March, 1637." Amgeiniad Ellan. [The Sporting Magazine seems to have mis-spelt the name, ■which is Hookes. The Gossiping Guide mentions the epitaph as still to be seen at the Church.—Ed.] WREXHAM REGISTERS (Jan. 16, 1884.)— I had hoped that some of your correspondents would have attended to a note on Wrex¬ ham Registers, which appeared in Bye-Gones, 16th January, 1884: for I wanted to know more about Henry Conway, who married Honoba Eavenscroft, of Brynffynon, Wrexham, on the 30th of September, 1716. GWENNA.the writer of the note in question, says,'' These area sample of many more entries, interesting to antiquaries ;" but they are of very little use to distant people, unless they are printed, and seeing how Wrexham is the centre of a considerable district, and claims to be the capital of North Wales; that it has a very ancient and interesting history; is peopled by well to do inhabitants; and can boast of no mean antiquary in the person of Mr John Jones, I rather wonder that these registers have not been published, and so thrown open to all who desire to study them for antiquarian purposes. In like manner, Gresford Register will doubtless contain abundance of material of a similar character; and there is Mr Trevor ParkinB, close at hand to attend to it, but as it will be said that the rapid growth of population has long since made the task a too voluminous one to be usefully undertaken now in the case of Wrexham, the compiler of its register might stay his hand at 1799, leaving to others the continuation of it for the current century. Meanwhile if any of your readers can tell me something more about Henry Conway, his wife, and their belongings, I shall feel obliged, and Gwenna I hope will pardon me for stepping into her shoes for the nonce, and thus using them to try and induce some well-informed per¬ son to take this matter in hand. There were Conways of Cotton Hall, Denbigh ; of Ruthin ; and of Efenechtyd, branching out of the Soughton and Bodrhyddan families, respecting whom information is wanted, and I hope the- particular Conway mentioned above can be traced to one or other of these people. Winifred. REPLIES. MANORS IN WALES (Nov. 4, 1885.)—The subject of Manors in Wales is very ably treated in Mr A. N. Palmer's book on Ancient Tenures. I have read it through with much interest; it throws much light on this question and on many others. It ought to be in the hands of every archaeologist. It can only be obtained of the author, 3, Ar-y-bryn Terrace, Earle-street, Wrexham. Yfed-Dwfr. "BUMPER SQUIRE JONES" (Oct. 7, 1885).— A little information of this song is afforded us in Chap- pell's Collection of National English Music, which was pub¬ lished in 1840. On page 97 we are told that the words of the song are by Baron Dawson, whilst the tune in Bunting's Irish Melodies is claimed as the composition of Carolan. It is said, however, that the tune has very little Irish character about it, much resembling one called "The Bummer," which was printed in 1686. At this time Carolan was only sixteen years old, and consequently it does not seem very probable that he was the author. On page 194 of Chappell's book it is further stated that the song was printed by Welsh in the " British Orpheus : a collection of favourite English songs never before published, composed by different authors." An entirely different song was sung to the tune in the hall of the Company of Stationers many years ago. Verax. Oswestry. DECEMBER 2, 1885. NOTES. WELSH WEATHER PROVERB.-A fair February is not generally regarded as advantageous, and this view we find expressed in several weather proverbs. Thus in Ray's collection there occurs the following :— 1' The Welshman would rather see his dam on her bier, Than see a fair Februeer." Oswestry. Vebax. THE SPIRIT'S BLASTED TREE.—When Sir Richd. Colt Hoare sketched this tree " it stood within the kitchen garden walls of Sir Robert W. Vaughan," at Nannau. That was about 1812, I believe. 1 have an etching copy of the sketch by Sir Richd. Hoare, framed in some of the wood of the Ceubren ; on the frame, on a silver plate, is engraved the following:—" The wood of this frame is part of the Tree, and probably about 1,000 years old." Glyndwr was born in 1349, and the oak was hollow, and capable of receiving the body of a man, in his time, probably then five or six hundred years old (for the Welsh oaks are in mountain districts very slow growing.) Turn¬ ing my picture round.another is presented (i.e. at the back ef the one first named), where the Etcher has pourtrayed his ideal of the Evil One, planting the oak as a sapling.