Welsh Journals

536 BYE-GONES. Dec. 7, 1898 it true that on Easter Monday " young men in remote places 3till go about with a garlanded chair, a basin of water, and a posy, and a girl is heaved three times, turned round in the air, and her feet sprinkled from the posy dipped in water ?" And do " the farmers on St. Thomas's Day (Dec. 21) set aside a sack of wheat for the poor, and cot¬ tagers go round to get their share of the dole ?" And how often are Morris-dancers now seen " iu the north and west of Shropshire ?" We seriously ask for information on these interesting asser¬ tions, not being prepared, after what we have discovered, to accept Mr Hare as an absolutely trustworthy historian. Mr Hare may well be "con¬ scious of the many imperfections of his work" and ask for corrections. He has collected inter¬ esting " facts and fancies " from a long list of authors, including, of course, Miss Burne, whose excellent book of Shropshire Folk-lore has been a rich mine for Mr Hare. Here is a speci¬ men of Mr Hare's " tit-bits "— Ellesmere has always been a centre for county festivities (!). The popular song of Mr David Stud- ley began— ' Oh long life to the Myttons, the Hatchetts, The Mainwarings, Dymocks, ray dear, While the mountains re-echo the catches We sing to the praise of Ellesmere. There's never a town in famed Salop Can match it for frolic and fun, If throughout all Shropshie you gallop From rising till setting of sun.' Why, by the way, is Oteley (given correctly in the text) spelt Oakley in the map ? Other quotations might be given with advan¬ tage, but they would be chiefly from books to which many of our readers have access. Mr Hare has collected bell-jingles, epitaphs, &c., from many sources, and his book, if it does nothing more, helps to show how much interest¬ ing matter can be gathered from the county of Salop. DECEMBER 7, 1898. NOTES. SATURDAY UNLUCKY.-An Oswestry lady the other day asked a new servant to come on Saturday. The mother wrote saying Saturday was unlucky, and it was arranged that the girl should come on Monday. How far does the superstition extend ? The girl was Welsh. M.H. A TRADITION OF MORTON CHURCH— This week, Nov. 25, 1898, an aged friend told me that when Morton Church was built there was a difficulty in obtaining a proper site for it. I do not know what the difficulty was,unless it was that there was too much water in the soil. However, a white cow settled the difficulty. She was taken from the cow house, and her calf was left behind. It was believed that wherever she stood there the church was to be built. The upshot was that the cow went on her voyage of inspection, and she stood where the present church stands. The church was built in the civil parish of Llanyblodwel, and for some time the parish registers of Llanyblod¬ wel were used for the new ecclesiastical district of Morton. The names are by themselves, and if the authorities of Morton have not these entries in their Register, they are welcome to take a copy of them by applying to the Vicar of Llanyblodwel. Has anyone anything to say to the action of the white cow ? E.O. [It is interesting to have this modern version of a story told in various forms of many ancient churches.—Ed.] TWO BRONZES. AN INTERESTING STORY OF A TRaMP'S GRATITUDE.—I enclose you the sketches of two small bronze vessels, which may interest the readers of Bye-Gomes. No. 1 was found by some miners at the Gogiuan Lead Mines near Aberystwyth, about the year 1852. It seems that several other articles were found at the same time and place, such as Roman coins, a bronze bowl, &c. Hearing No. 1.—Actual Size, of the find I at once wrote to a friend at Goginan, who replied that the report was true, but that unfortunately the articles had been disposed of at Aberystwyth a short time before, with the exception of a small bronze vase which had fallen into the hands of a farmer close by, and that he had given it to a tramp of the name of Thomas Rees for cleaning his clock, as he had no money by him at the time. Having the name of the man, as well as a description of his person and his trade, I made up my mind to try and find him out. After searching for over a twelve month, though coming very close to his heels at