Welsh Journals

Jan. 6, 1892. BYE-GONES. 238 JANUARY 6, 1892. NOTES. BURYING IN WOOLLEN.—In Newtown Register in the year 1742 the following entry oc¬ curs : —** Edward Benbow, Organist, buried 3 Deer." N.B. An affidavit was made of his being buried in Woollen only, also the same as regarded six other persons. Pearmain. HENRF M. STANLEY: HIS EARLY LIFE.- After a patient ten years'wait I have finally secured a copy of Henry M. Stanley The Story of his Life from His Birth in 1841 to his discovery of Livingstone 1871 by Cadwalader Rowlands. [Then follow:] Vignette Portrait of Mr Stanley, 1866. " We desire to do honour to his energy, courage, and pluck." Sir Henry Rawlinson. With numerous Illustrations. London: John Camden Hotten, 74 & 75 Piccadilly. (All Rights reserved) Collation : Grown 8 vo. xii. 184 pp. No date appears on the title page. The introduction however ends as follows:" As a native of the Princirality, I feel I have done my duty to the best of my ability. Y GWIR YN ERBYN Y BYD. Liverpool, _ „ „ 25th October, 1872. C.R." The title-page of this volume states that Cadwalader Rowlands was the author—the introduction mentions that the author was a native of the Principality—the work itself gives evidence that the author had some knowledge of the Welsh language—but thequestion arises whether Cadwal¬ ader Rowlands was the author—or was that a nom de 2)lume for John Camden Hotten, the late noted London publisher and Welsh book collector ? There is much evidence to show that Mr Hotten was the author as well as the publisher. If I am wrong will some one kindly give the necessary proof and information? Of the many lives that have appeared of Mr Stanley this is by far the best, although written and published in 1872. If the work—now very scarce—had been more generally known, our Welsh friends would never have asked thequestion whether Mr Stanley was a native of Wales. The then Bishop of St. Asaph said of Stanley (or Rowlands), when he was under 15 years of age, at the St. Asaph School, where he was educated, " John Rowlands is a very clever lad, and if he has health will make his mark." H.B.N.Y. BYE-GONE PUNISHMENTS.—"J.W.'s" note on Flogging at the Cart's Tail may well be followed up by an extract from the "Birmingham Vol. II. Weekly Post," giving a few entries in a note-book evidently used by some gentleman of the bar at the Assizes of the Oxford Circuit between 1656 and 1660:— Gloucester, July 17, 1656. Walter Clement gent, convicted upon one indict¬ ment in the city for disturbing the minister that preached the Judges sermon Mr. Heands, fined thereupon £10. As also indicted for his contempt in Court being a Quaker appearing with his hat on his head, fined thereupon £10. To remayne in gaole quousque. Gloucester, Lent, 1656. Thomas Bayley, convicted of petit larceny, to be whipped the next market day in Cheltenham. Monmouth, Mar. 7,1636. James Lewes and Evan Price, For high treason, coyning money, judgment, to be drawn from the prison to the place of execution uppon a hurdle and there to be hanged by the neck until they be dead. Gloucester, July 10,1657. Margaret Halle for witchcraft, not guilty. Salop. At Bridgnorth, July 25,1657. Thomas Skrymsheire gent, a young boy, for man¬ slaughter by misfortune in riding over a man in a faire, his horse running away with him, not guilty. Salop, Mar. 29,1658. Richard Jefferv, for a cut purse, John Edwards for murder, Robert Parkinson for a cut purse (reprieved), Elizabeth Grocock f or goods abovelOs., Thomas Kendrick for breaking a house in the day time—Judgment to be hanged. W.O. QUERIES. PUBLIC PENANCE.—I see, with some sur¬ prise, that as late as some year between 1840 and 1850 the landlady of the principal inn at Stoke Golding, near Hinckley, Leicestershire, was con¬ demned to stand at the church door in a sheet, and to hold a candle, while the congregation entered, her offence being brawling in church. Can any readers of Bye-Gones remember any instances of public penance in Wales or the Border Counties ? W.O. THE MEDDINS FAMILY AT MONT¬ GOMERY.—On the south wall of Montgomery Church tower I noticed a monumental stone reared against the wall, and on a metal tablet inserted in the stone the following inscription :— To Margaret wife of Edwd. Meddins of Montgomery She was daughter of John Tilsley of Llwydcoed Esq died 1766 Aged--------81 Can any reader of this column say what family of Meddins the inscription referred to, and, if so, whether there are any persons living who descend from the above-mentioned Margaret and Edward 1 Querist. 30