Welsh Journals

BYE-GONES. Apr. 6, 1898. We fear thy wasting wrath, and thou hast known Our trespass, and our sins to iight hast brought; For in thiue anger all our days h*ve flown, Our years have vanished as a passing thought. Our term of life is threescore years and ten, And if, perchance, the strong attain fourscore, Yet is their strength but pain and sorrow then— So soon it passes and we are no more. But who the power of thy displeasure weighs? Whose huliest fear can measure all thy wrath Teach us, O God, to number well our days, And with the lau.p of wisdom light our path. How long? O God, return! 0 God, relent! O let thy mercy crown our happiness. Requite us good for days in evil spent, For years of tribulation and distress. O teach thy servants in thy strength to stand ; Show to their seed thy glory. Bid :hem trace In all thy works thy beauty, and our hand Establish, nor let time our works efface. That, we venture to say, will commend itself at once to every lover of the Psalms, and every one who can appreciate a mascu¬ line, and sonorous, and poetical version. And here, to give one other, is the 4Sch, which may well take a prominent place in the best hymn books of the future, and long hold its place in popular favour— God is our refuge in distress, Our comfort ever near, A very present help in need : Therefore we will not fear, E'en though this earthly ball forget Ber wonted course to keep, And though the hills be rooted up, And buried in the deep ; Though the tempestuous waters roar, And though the mountains shake, While tossing high their foamy crests Tne rolling surges break. Hard by the city of our God A peaceful river glides, Whose streams make glad the sacred courts Where God, our God, abides. Her guardian is within her cates, So shall her walls stand fast; The Lord shall help her in the morn, When the long night is past. The heathen raged, the kingdoms shook, He spake—earth melts away ; The Lord of Hosts is our defence, And Jacob's God our stay. Approach and see the works of God, What havoc wide and far His hand hath wrought, and how at will He stays the tide of war. He breaks the archer's bended bow, He snaps the spsar in twain ; He burns the chariot in the fire: Be still, for lo ! I reign. The heathen shall confess my power, The kingdoms own my sway; The Lord of Hosts is our defence, And Jacob's God our stay. Nothing that we could say could add to the effect of these selections from a b x>k which will be read with particular interest in thisp*rtof the country, where the author enjoyed so large a measure of respect from all who knew the sterling worth of bis character, APRIu 6, 1393. NOTES. VICAR OF MOLD.—The following lines gob into my possession, somehow or other ; I do nob know how> neither can I give the name of the writer. It is like Mother Shipton's productions and it is funny, and possibly there is truth in it. Perhaps some of the readers of Bye-Goxes are able to tell us the author's name. There seems to be an innuendo in the last line, and an allu¬ sion to meritorious qualifications for success in the ministry. I will not add to my remarks, bub will give the lines just as I found them among the mass of scraps I possess. May the men of Mold, Who are sharp and bold, With intellects keener than swords, Get a minister fair, With long, black hair, With money in heaps and in hoards. E.O. BALA.: MOULDS OR TOMENYDD, AND ANCIENT ENCLOSURES,—Mr Lewis Davies, Castle-street, Bala, gives the following list of mounds and old fortifications extending from Bala to Glyndyfrdwy :—Castell Goronwy, at the outlet of Bala lake; Castell Llywarch, at Llan- for ; Y Domen Gastell, on the way to Cynlas ; an enclosure on the hill right opposite Cynlas, Yr Hen Gaer ; another largo and remarkable one on Mynydi y Careini, Castell Careini ; then, Caer Owen, on Mynythog Mountain; another mound near Rug, of considerable size; Ffedoged y Gawres, or Caer Trewyn, opposite Corwen ; and Mount Glyndwr, near Glyndyfrdwy. There is also a mound near Gwyddelwern. A fire on an¬ other mound which is near the road that passes Cam Dochan, Llanuwchllyn, could be seen from Castell Goronwy. This road, again, leads to a mound called Tomen-y-Mur, beyond Traws- fynydd. E.E, PLAS-Y-WARD AND THE WYNNS.-A short account appeared in the Advertizer of March 30 of an interesting lecture given by the Rev J. Fisher before the Ruthin Y.P.M.I S. In the course of discussion Mr Fisher elicited a con¬ jecture that the Plas-y-YVard MSS. were re¬ moved to VVynnstay when the families of Williams of Plas-y-YVard and the VVynns of VVynnstay wore allied in marriage, and that bhey probably perished in the fire at VVynnstay in 1853. As a matter of fact Pia3-y-Ward was tenanted by a family of the name of Williams, but they were not allied by marriage with the VVynns. This ancient estate belonged to bhe Thelwalls, and came into the possession of bhe VVynnstay family through Jane, the daughter and heiress of Edward Thelwall, Esq., and Sidney, his wife, who married in 1689 Sir William Williams, the second baroaeb, of Llan