Welsh Journals

92 BYE-GONES. June 7, 1891 The death took place after a lingering illness of the Rev John Hugh Jones, son of the late Rev Hugh Jones, D.D., Principal of the North Wales Baptist College, Llangollen, at the residence of his father-in-law, in Auckland, New Zealand, on Easter Monday. Mr Jones left Llangollen in 1883, and was pastor in Ponsonby, Auckland, for three years, and there he married. Afterwards he moved to Australia, but was compelled some months ago to resign his position on account of illness, when he was presented with a purse of gold as a token of respect. On his resignation he returned to New Zealand, where he died in his 29th year, leaving a widow and two children. The Dean of St Asaph has erected a brass with inscription at the west door of St Asaph Cathe¬ dral, where Bishop Barrow's tablet was formerly placed. Bishop Barrow, who died in 1680, left directions that he should be buried outside the cathedral by the west door, with a Latin inscrip¬ tion above his tomb. The inscription has disap¬ peared. It is supposed to have been sent to London to be produced as evidence in a trial in the Arches Court as to the legality of prayers for the dead, and never returned. The Dean (the Very Rev Watkin Williams) has now caused a fresh brass plate to be put where the original was, the words " Copy of incription " being introduced to show that the tablet is not original. Mr Hobson Matthews, addressing a pilgrimage of Catholics to the shrine of "Our Lady of Pen- rhys," at Tonypandy recently, said on the site of the once famous monastery of Penrhys was at one time preserved a renowned image of St. Mary with her Divine Child in her arms. The few memorials that still exist of the ancient monastery of Pen¬ rhys ap Tewdwr are situated on the southern spur of the chain of hills known as Cefn Twyn, Rhondda. The present farmhouse of Penrhys has been erected on the site of the monastery, and a barn standing in a field near the house was formed to a consider¬ able extent out of portions of the ancient monastic buildings, some parts of which were about the middle of this century discernible. The only ob¬ ject that now remains, owing to farm repairs having swept away the old portion, is a spring, the water of which was supposed to cure the king's evil. The water flowed from the grey sand¬ stone of the coal measures, and was not known to contain any chemical property. Dugdale and Tanner omitted any mention of the monastery, and there remained only a few allusions in the writings of mediaeval Welsh bards. The monas¬ tery is supposed to have been founded to com¬ memorate the death of Rhys ap Tewdwr, over whose grave was erected a large tumulus called Bryn-y-Beddau, the " hill of graves." An ancient bardic composition runs, " I will go to Penrhys in my smock for fear of theday of trembling j at my side my pilgrim's scrip, and in my hand a taper a fathom long." Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club.— At an evening meeting on May 17, Mr T. P. Blunt, M.A., in the chair, Mr H. E. Forrest read an interesting paper on " The Hydra, mythical and real," effectively illustrated by original coloured diagrams. It was resolved that the paper be printed in the " Transactions" of the Club. Among the microscopic specimens exhibited was Ophrydium versatile, an infusorian which occurs associated, several thousands imbedded in a clear jelly in masses as large as a walnut; the indi¬ viduals are bright green, so that the ball appears pale green, they only occupying the surface, and the free end of each bears a ciliary wreath. Nitella translucens, a water plant of very large cells, was also shown, displaying with remarkable clearness the rotation ®f the cell contents, a proto¬ plasmic fluid with granules floating in it. Both specimens were obtained at Betton Pool by Mr Forrest. JUNE 7, 1893. NOTES. SOME SHROPSHIRE TRIALS (May 17, 1893).—No. 16.—27 Elizabeth, 1584. Hit. 2.— This was a suit on behalf of the Crown in which the Attorney-General was plaintiff and Thomas Maxfield defendant. The matter at issue was the sale of wine by the defendant at his inn at New¬ port without licence, and contrary to the Statute 7 Edward VI. No. 17.—27 Elizabeth, 1585. Trin. 4.— Richard Moreton was plaintiff in this suit, and Thos. Foster, Richd. Richards, John Evans, Wm. Blockley, John Richards, and Wm. Richards were defendants. The Commission issued on the 24th of May, and the depositions were taken at New¬ port on the 10th of June following. The subject matter of the suit was—Parish of Idsall, alias Shifnall, Perambulation: whether the parsonage was parcel of the late College of Mary Magdalen of Battlefield near Shrewsbury, and a waste called Lisiard—tithes. Pearmain. THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN, Continued (May 31, 1893). Letter from Viscount Castlereagh. " Brighton, Dec. 16th, 1817. " Dear Madam,— " I hope indisposition will plead my excuse to you for having so long delayed to acknowledge your letter on the subject of which I should not have failed to have taken steps to employ my best efforts, had I not deemed it more advantageous to reserve the question for discussion with Sir Arthur Wellesley, when he comes over for Parliament, rather than to write to him on the subject. " I beg you will be assured that I can never cease to take a very cordial and warm interest in any measure which can contribute to your, and Lady Eleanor Butler's, happiness, or which can render the interesting retreat you have chosen for