Welsh Journals

Dec. 4, 1889. BYE-GONES. 265 the islanders standing around the coffin. It was then silently lowered into its final resting- place. Mr C. E. Spooler, C.E., the well-known engineer and manager of the Festiniog and Portmadoc Narrow Gauge Railway, died last week in his 73rd year. The deceased gentleman's engineering work was inspected by scientific men from Russia,G ermany, France, and other countries. Lady Windsor Olive's Will.—Probate of the will,dated 2nd September, 1859,of the late LadyMary Selina Louisa Windsor Clive, of Oakley Park, Salop, and 77, Cadogan-square, London, who died on the 12th July last, and who was the widow of the Hon. Robt. Windsor Olive, M.P., and a daughter of the second Earl of Bradford, has been granted to the executors, her brother, the Right Hon. Orlando George Charles, Earl of Bradford, and her brother-in-law, Colonel the Hon. George Herbert Windsor Clive, and the testatrix bequeaths all her personal estate to her daughters in equal shares as tenants in common, the value of the personalty being £37,011 2s lid. The Late Mr Evan Hugh Morgan.—Mr Evan Hugh Morgan, one of the oldest inhabitants of Aberystwyth, died last week. When a youth, he was apprenticed to Mr Clayton, of Llanidloes, and afterwards went into his father's business as hat manufacturer, adding to it a drapery department. He also occupied one of the two farms which belonged to him. About a quarter of a century ago he retired from business. Mr Morgan was born in 1811, and was married in 1842 to Miss Pughe, daughter of the Vicar of Eglwysfach and Llancynfelin. He had three children, of whom the only survivor is the Rev J. Pughe Morgan, vicar of Dolfor, Montgomeryshire. DECEMBER 4, 1889. NOTES. SOULING (Nov. 13, 1889).—In a large collec¬ tion of early Wills recently examined at Hereford an entry was invariably found of a small sum left to the Priest "for the (testator's) sowl"—Is., Is. 6d., 2s. 6d. May we assume that it became customary among poor people on the death of a relative to go round collecting for the payments to the priests, and that this may have had originally something to do with the custom of " Souling " ? RHYMES ON PLACE NAMES. — Many instances may be given in Welsh of the names of houses or farms in a neighbourhood having been strung together into a sort of rhyming stanza. The following is very old, and is well known in the Ceiriog valley :— Mi ddymunwn cyn fy marw Weled Pandy'r Felin Deirw, Penybryn, a'r ddau Gamhelig Llechwedd Gwyn a'r ErwGerrig. Perhaps some of your correspondents may give other instances. Berwyn. DOLGELLEY DUCKING STOOL.—Apropos of a note of November 6, as to the old gallows, there is, I believe, in Dolgelley, an old ducking stool ; and the stumps on which it was worked near to the Pont Fawr were in existence when I was a boy. When the old Town Hall was dismantled and modernised with ceiling and change of windows, &c, about 1843, the ducking stool was (so far as I remember) put up in the roof be¬ tween it and the ceiling, and there it may still be to this day. Upon converting the hall into a reading room the three arched windows at the gable fronting the Post Office were displaced by the square window, and the judge's seat, counsels' seats, jury boxes,&c. ,were all removed,and the floor made level from end to end. Southsea. W.P. BASCHURCH LOYALTY IN 1793.—We take the following from the Ellesmere Ruridecanal Magazine for December, 1886 :— " Declaration of the parishes of Baschurch and Ruyton of the Eleven Towns on January 28th, 1793, declaring that there never was a time when loyalty and affection to the Sovereign George the Third, and his family, were more due or more sincerely felt by honest men, and engaging to continue loyal and obedient and peaceable subjects, and that they would to the best of their power discourage and prevent any seditious proceedings and that they would be ready to aid the civil magistrates in suppressing all tumults and riots on any pretence whatever, for they are conscious that this kingdom is peculiarly favoured by Divine Providence respecting its government, which is most equitable in its principles, and the least oppressive in its execution of any in the known world. Then follow seventy signatures. On the evening of the same day there was a dinner at the Craven Arms Inn, Ruyton, at which no less than twenty-five toasts were proposed, and amongst them were the following :— 1. May Britons never prefer the shadow to the substance. 2. The Ellesmere Canal, a warm hearth and a good coal fire. 3. Prosperity to both sides of the Piatt Bridge. 4. The Millers above and below : may they grind much and toll little. 5. The barber's blessing—May all the enemies of King George be shaved with a bad razor. 6. The mother of all the Britons. A song was composed for the occasion by Mr Hunt, m hich we will give in a future number. Only part of the song was afterwards given. Can any one supply the remainder ? Black bread and soup meagre and frogs fricassied Are fare that may serve for a Frenchman indeed ; But they never shall shake our well founded belief, That no fare in the world is like England's roast beef. Then drink to the King, the Church, and the laws, With one voice, heart, and hand to support the good cause,