Welsh Journals

Dec. 6, 1893. BYE-GONES. 231 up to London for medioal treatment and advice, succumbed there on November 19. He was the eldest and only surviving son of the late Mr Penry Williams, chairman of the Breconshire Quarter Sessions, and a scion of the ancient his¬ toric house of Bullen or Boleyn. He was only 55. Unlike his father, who was a prominent public man, he lived a secluded life at Penpont, a comfort¬ able mansion near Brecon. DECEMBER 6, 1893. NOTES. THE NOMENCLATURE OP WELSH SLATES.—Some of the readers of Byk-Gones will be familiar with Mr Leycester's lines quoted in the descriptior of the Penrhyn Slate Quarries in the Gossiping Guide to Wales, beginning— It has truly been said, aa we all must deplore. That Grenville and Pitt have made peers by the score; But now, 'tis asserted, unless 1 have blunder'd There's a man that makes peeresses here by the hundred. He regards neither Portland, nor Grenville, nor Pitt, But creates them at once without patent or writ; By the stroke of a hammer, without the king's aid, A lady, or countess, or duchess is made. Yet high is the station from which they are sent, And all their great titles are got by descent; And whene'er they are seen in a palace or shop, Their rank they preserve, and are still at the top. A writer in Notes and Queries (p. 436, 8th S., IV.) gives the following explanation of the names :— The history of the nomenclature of Welsh Slates lies in the dun past, and men who have spent their lives in the quarries and filled the highest offices in connection with them, and who would therefore be supposed to be in full possession of the traditions of their trade, have failed to throw any light on this subject. It is supposed that these names were first given about 120 years ago by General Warburton,the then owner of the Penrhyn Slate Quarries, and whose daughter Mr Richard Pennant married, and thereby became the possessor of the quarries. These names are indicative of sizes, and are as follows :— ladies, 16in. by lOin.; viscountesses, 18in. by 9in.; countesses, 20in. by lOin. ; marchionesses, 22in. by llin.; duchesses, 24in. by 12in.; princesses, 24in. by 14in.; queens, 28in. to 36in. long, and of various widths. One important factor in determining this form of expressing gradation in slates must be looked for in the gender of Welsh nouns. I suppose it is gener¬ ally known that there are only two genders in the Welsh language, and that all things, animate and inanimate, are either masculine or feminine. The Welsh word for slate, ttech or llechen, is a feminine noun. The Welsh quarryman.in his broken English, refers to the slate by the pronouns "she" and 4fher," as he would do in Welsh, and any form adopted to express gradation in the articles he was handling daily must be in harmony with his habits of thought and speech. This, I think, accounts for the gender of these English names applied to slates. I have often thought that it would be most in¬ teresting to inquire into the influence of "gender" on the metaphors and expressions of the Welsh people. J. Hughes. THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN AND THE SPANISH PRAYER BOOK.—The gift of a Spanish Prayer Book to the Duke of Wellington by Lady E. Butler was mentioned in Bye-Gones January 16, 1889. The following correspondence has now appeared in the Athenaeum for October 7 :— W. Payne. Southsea. Tunbridge Wells. An interesting account of this book is given by the Hon. Mrs S win ton in her * Sketch of the Life of Georgiana, Lady de Ros,' just published (pp. 148- 152). We may gather from it that the Prayer Book was returned by Dr. Bliss to Lady de Ros, to whom the Duke had given it. It is, therefore, curious that Mr Benjamin Wiffen, well-known from his labours in editing the works of the Spanish Reformers, states that he bought the Prayer Book at the sale of Dr. Bliss's library, and sent it to his friend Don Luis de Usor y Rio. His words are :— "In the year 1858 I purchased at Sotheby's^at the sale of the library of Dr. Bliss, the editor of Wood's 'Athens Oxonienses,' and Registrar of the Univer¬ sity, Felix Antonio Alvarado's ' Liturgia Ynglesa, edicion segunda, 1715, 8vo.' It was a choice copy bound in blue morocco, and with the edges gilt. Its value was increased by MS. notes, &c, which I found in it, placed there by Dr. Bliss. The follow¬ ing original letter addressed by the Duke of Wel¬ lington, after he had become Chancellor of the Uni¬ versity of Oxford, to Dr. Bliss, and an additional note by the latter, relate the circumstances :— London, May 31st, 1837. My Deab Sir,—I am much obliged to you for the account of the (Spanish) Prayer Book. It was given me by Lady Elinor Butler and Miss Pon- sonby, of whom you may have heard, who resided at Llangollen, in North Wales. It probably de¬ scended to Lady Elinor from her ancestor, the Duke of Ormond, who, I believe, resided in Spain after his attainder. Has it ever been printed by the University ? The translation is so good that I am astonished that you should not print an edition of it. I beg you will keep it till you will have satisfied yourself that you have attained all the information that can be got. Believe me, Ever yours most faithfully, The Rev P. Bliss. Wellington. " Note by Dr Bliss on the fly-leaf:—' When the Duke of Wellington first went to Spain, he had, from adverse winds, a much longer passage than usual, during which, with a copy of this liturgy and a common Spanish grammar, he made himself master of the language, so much so, that as his Grace himself told me, he was surprised to find that he could make out nearly the whole of. a speech