Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

40 BYE-GONES. Mar. 6, 1895. MA.BCH 6, 1895. Errata.—On page 276 of last volume, and under *' Wills" in index, Barloio should be Barker. On page 482, " Shropshire and Cheshire Words," the reference should be to Oct. 24,1894, not Oct. 31. NOTES. ADVERTISEMENT TO GOLDSMITH'S ALMANAC, 1676.— The following is taken from Philip Henry's copy :—" If any Almanack came abroad under the name of Gadbury in three sheets, every Buyer may believe it to be a coun¬ terfeit, because it's well known that Mr Gadbury hath not been able for many years to dijest his Astrological Fancies in le^s than four sheet?, and hath resolved rather to Increase than diminish his yearly Book, being troubled that his Genius should be bounded, as to any number of sheets." I presume " Gadbury" is the well-known Astrologer of that period. J.P.-J. CHANCELLOR BRISCOE.—Referring to the recentdeath of theRev Chancellor Briscoe,distin¬ guished in many ways, it may be well to remind your readers that he was born in Wrexham, baptised at the Parish Church there, Oct 5, 1813, and was the son of Richard and Margaret Briscoe. His father, Mr Richard Briscoe, was a druggist, in business where the Conservative Club in High-street now is, and when at the vestry meeting held Dec. 28, 1838, it was decided to discontinue henceforth all services conducted in the Welsh language, he was one of the two who voted against the resolution. Alfred Neobard Palmer. BRIEFS.— LLANYBLODWEL CHURCH — I lately sent you for Bye-Gones (Feb. 6, 1895) extracts from a register here about briefs, and I then stated that the three pounds, &c., collected for the distressed Protestants was a very large sum, but I have since found another entry show ing that in deserving cases other large sums were oollected, as in the following case :— Collected ye 23 of April, 1706, towards ye re¬ building of......to Ashen by fire and relieving ye distressed Inhabitants thereof the sum of two pounds five pence. Arthur Badarn, Curate. Robert Edwards) Ch. David Jones J Wardens. The next entry is suggestive :— Collected upon ye Gt. Maries Church in Col¬ chester demolished by ye late civil war damage 6153Z and upwards, three shillings and five pence in ye year 1711, by Arthur Badarn, Curate. Thomas Jennings "J and > Wardens. David . . . ,J Churches, it is well known, were destroyed ia the civil wars, and the people very likely, when greatly pressed by the enemy, took refuge in their parish church, as was the case in Llansilin church, the south door of which retains to our days holes made in it by the bullets of the enemy, and some of the bullets remain in the door, whilst others have been extracted. These briefs were a great burden upon churches, and from an entry in the register of Llanyblodsvel I find six collections made on briefs returned to the church authorities in 1736. The entry is :— Briefs returned at ye correction in June, 1736. This entry is followed by the names of the places the briefs were levied for, and the amount of the same. I find that for the year 1707 no less than twelve briefs were collected in Llanyblodwel church. It is not to be wondered at that they became a burden, and the return of some of them was undoubtedly acceptable to the church authorities in the parish. E.O. QUERIES. LONGEVITY IN WALES.—In Gleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia, fifth edition, by Mr Pratt (1800), there is the follow¬ ing reference to Festiniog :—•■ If one has a mind to live long and renew his youth let him come and settle at Festiniog. Not long ago there died there an honest Welch farmer who was an hundred and five years of age ! By his first wife he had thirty children, ten by his second, and four by his third. His youngest son was eighty- one years younger than his eldest, and eight hundred persons descended from his body attended his funeral." Can any contributor to Bye-Gones kindly supply the name of this centenarian ? Amgeiniad Elan. TOMMY ON THE TUB'S GRAVE.-At a meeting of the Folk-Lore Society reported in Folk Lore for December, 1894, a game called "Tommy on the Tub's Grave " was described. The game, as far as is yet known, is only played in one part of London,the part about Bloomsbury Square. Mr Robert Weir Schultz writes— " Last evening I was much interested, in passing through Bloomsbury Square, by some children coming up to me with hand extended, and saying, «Please to remember Tommy on the tub's grave.' I found that they had got, set out on the pavement, a little arrangement like a cemetery. It was enclosed with sand walls, and there were various hieroglyphics arranged in sand inside, and having flowers (cowslips,Ithink) laid on them. In the centre was a large bunch of flowers on a bigger heap, and this was pointed out to me as the 'tub's grave'. On asking what it was all about they'could not tell me, but this I learned, that they only did it once a year, and that they had always done it, i.e., I suppose that it was handed down by the older boys to the younger ones, and so on." This is very interesting. It is a game which'seems to have come down from old times, yet this appears