Welsh Journals

125 It was this gentleman who, in company with Sir Francis Gamull and Charles Walley, the then Mayor, stood side by side with King Charles on the leads of the Phoenix Tower, and saw the Royalists defeated on Rowton Moor. Mr. Cowper was one. of the six chief citizens who refused to sign the Articles of Surrender, when Chester capitulated to the Parliament in 1646. For his stedfast loyalty, his ill-fated Sovereign made him a special grant of a new coat of arms, in lieu of the coat he had inherited from his ancestors; which new arms, with the expressive motto, " Fide et fortitudine," appear on the proper . left of the picture. The loyal Alderman wears his official gown, carries ' an embroidered cap or bag, and bears upon his breast the Carolus medal, on which is a faithful profile of his unfortunate prince. On the i "tu^f third finger of his left hand is a ring, bearing the expressive emblem £ye of a " death's head," the favourite Cavalier memorial of the martyr- ~\ King. An inscription to the right of the painting shews that he was a* 61 years of age when the portrait was taken, in 1657, and that he was-^ consequently boru in 1596. S<^ Mr. Hughes then drew attention to an ancient rapier and two cannon-balls, one of wrought iron and the other of stone, all found in the vicinity of Hawarden Castle. The relics were exhibited by Dr. Moffat; and it is probable they were all used during the Civil War, while Hawarden Castle was besieged by the Royalist forces. Mr. Hicklin followed with some historic sketches relating to the foundation of " St. Werburgh's Abbey, at Chester," tracing it in detail from its Saxon origin to its re-edification by the Norman Earl, Hugh Lupus. Thence through the long line of distinguished Abbots, fore¬ most among whom stood Simon of Whitchurch and Simon Ripley, he passed along to the dissolution of the Abbey by " bluff King Hal." He quoted freely from Mrs. Jameson and other writers, to show that despite the many and glaring evils of the conventual system as then existing, the monasteries of England were ever the source and centre of learning, as well as the scene where many an invention, which has proved a blessing to mankind, was first known and fostered. He announced his intention, at some future day, of favouring the Society with some more extended remarks on the monastic institutions of the twelfth and nine¬ teenth centuries. An old painting, on panel, was exhibited by Mr. Hughes, through the courtesy of its owner, Mr. W. Latham, of Saudbach. The painting represented an old hall of the period of Charles I., with a fine domestic chapel on its right side, and was taken by Mr. Latham from a house in Sandbach, which he had recently pulled down. A vague opinion seems to have prevailed in Sandbach, that the picture represented old Torbuek Hall, in Lancashire ; but in order if possible to establish its identity,