Welsh Journals

IB BYE-GONES. Feb. 3, 1897. Conservative interest in 1877 on the late Colonel Corbett accepting' the Chiltern Hundreds. He was re-elected at the head of the poll in April, 1880, with 2,491 votes, Mr J. E. Severn© being second member •with 275 votes less, the rejected candidates being Mr R. Jasper More, M.P., and Mr J. W. H. Davenport, afterwards Handley. both Liberals. At the redistribution of seats in 1885, Sir Baldwyn contested the South or Ludlow Division, which was entitled to one member, but on this occasion he was defeated by Mr Jasper More, then a Liberal, who Teeeived 4,642 votes, as against Sir Baldwyn's 4,073. Very little was afterwards heard of the deceased baronet in public life. Al¬ though a Conservative, and true to his principles. Sir Baldwyn was a man of very independent mind, and was never afraid of asserting his independ¬ ence when he failed to agree with his party. He was interested chiefly on social questions, and his desire to improve the condition of the people was well brought out in his "Letters of Edward Denison," published in 1872. Denison wall always be remembered as the pioneer of that great work in the East End of London, which has since been taken up by so many, and in his short biography Sir Ba.ldwyn gives an interesting account of his friend's labours. During his time of service at St. Stephen's. Sir Baldwyn rendered valuable service in various ways, and he lived to see his proposals for the transfer of the maintenance of the main roads to the county carried out. Sir Ba.ldwyn was patron of the living of Cardiston, Salop. Although attached to the Church of Eng¬ land, he gave generous assistance to other re¬ ligious bodies, and only three years ago he pre¬ sented a valuable piece of land, of 488 square vards, to the Primitive Methodists of Wattles- borough,and since then the same body has received ■financial assistance from both Sir Baldwyn and Ladv Leighton, her ladyship onlv last Christmas sending them a cheque for £50. Tt should be stated that Sir Baldwyn for the last eight years filled the office of people's warden at Alberbury Church. The Hon. Lady Leighton, two sons and two daughters, survive the late baronet. The eldest son and successor to the title and estates, Bryan Baldwyn Mawddwy Leighton, was born in November, 1868. and married in 1890, Mar¬ garet, second daughter of Major John Fletcher, of Saltoun. The youngest daughter is married to Mr A. E. Perkins, of Sundorne Castle. Shrews¬ bury, while the youngest son, Onthbert Leierhton, was bom in November. 1877. Mr now Sir Bryan Leighton is now on his way home from South Africa, having been telegraphed for. The new baronet came of age in 1890. and the event was celebrated with rejoicings, which will long live in the memory of those who took part in them. He holds a lieutenant's commission in the Shrewsbury Smiadron of the Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry. The remains were interred on Monday after¬ noon, in the family vault in Alberbury Church¬ yard, a heavy snowstorm falling the while. The coffin plate bore the following inscription: — Sir Baldwvn Leighton. Bart. Born 27th October, 1836. Died 22nd January, 1897. FEBRUARY 3, 1897. NOTES. EPITAPH.—The following epitaph is inscribed on the gravestone of Jannet Jones (who died June 11th, 1772, aged 32) in Llanbedrog Churchyard :— A virtuous wife, in prime of life By death is snatch'd away ; Her soul is blest and gone to rest Tho' flesh is gone zo clay. She left behind a husband kind One daughter and a son, May they prepare to meet her where True love will ne'er be done. VV.A.D. YEW.—I have noticed the absence of sprigs of yew in the decoration of graves on Easter Sunday. The only reason that can be assigned for the absence is this :—In olden times, the arrows, used in battle, were made from branches of the yew-tree, and so sprigs of yew came to denote death. Taking this into consideration their absence on Easter Sunday is quite natural, as the Church leads her adherents to think of the Resurrection of the Dead in consequence of the Resurrection of Christ. Yew trees are grown in churchyards as they symbolise a life beyond the grave. W.A.D. DEEP SNOW IN MAY AT LLAN¬ GOLLEN.—The following is taken from the St. James's Chronicle, May 3—5, 1768. W.O. Extract of a Letter from Llangollen, North- Wales, May I. " We have very extraordinary Weather here for the Time of the Year; if Seasons were usually calculated from the Face of Nature, and not from Almanacks, one would swear that Christmas was coming in with us, and not the Month of May. Instead of green Fields, Daisies, Primroses, and all the gay Livery of the Spring, it looks Winter all around: If little Bays was to give an Account of this, he would say, ' that December was enamoured of May, and had cast his snowy Mantle over her;' but 1 shall be contented with telling you in plain Prose, that we have, on this First of May, so deep a Snow, as well in the Valley, as on the Hill, that it renders the Roads impassable. I am, Sir, your's, &c. T. PRICE." DAVYDH AB GWILYM.—In the Glossary to Y Seint Greal> edited by the late Canon Williams of Rhydycroesau, it is stated (p. 726) that " Davydh ab Gwilym is now ascertained to have been living in 1399." It strikes me as rather curious why Canon Williams volunteered this piece of information at all, as I cannot find anything in Y Seint Great to demand it; neither can I imagine what proof he had in support of his statement. If by Davydh ab Gwilym he