Cylchgronau Cymru

"OLD BRECKNOCK CHIPS." A Column of Antiquarian Chit-Chat relating to the County of Brecknock. NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES, on Subjects inter¬ esting to Breconshire, must be addressed to EDITOR, Bbeoon County Times, Brecon. Real names and addresses must be given in confidence, and MSS. must be written legibly, on one side of the paper only. NOVEMBEE 12th, 1886. ROTES. BEECONSHIEE " COMPOUNDEES." —The following are the Eoyalists who, in Oliver Cromwell's time, compounded for their estates, for " delinquincies and dis- loyaltie " :— £ s. d. 1. Herbert, John, of Crickhowell 379 0 0 2. Morgan, Lewis, of Llangeney 9 0 0 3. Jeffreys, John, of Abercynrig, esquire ......380 10 0 4. Williams, John, of Pant-ar- Irfon, gent....... 50 18 0 £837 8 0 THE PWCCA.—In a review that appeared in the North British Review, No. xxi, May, 1849, of Vaughan's Poems (" Silurist ") after touching upon Henry Vaughan's ancestry, the reviewer goes on :—" It is said that Shakespeare visited Scethrog, the family castle in Brecknockshire, and Malone guesses that when there that he fell in with the word 4 Puck.' Near Scethrog there is Cwm Pooky, or Pwcca, the Goblin's Valley, which belonged to the Vaughans, and Crofton Croker gives in his Fairy Legends a fac simile of a portrait drawn by a Welsh peasant of a Pwcca which he himself had seen sitting on a milestone by the roadside in the early morning (!) " But, seriously, can Cwm Pooky be now identified ? The Editor. CHUECHYAED'S DESCBIPTION OF "THE TOWNE AND CHUECHE OF BEEAKENOKE." {Continued from November bth). THE ABMES OF THE GAMS. Three fayre boyes heads, and every one of those A serpent hath close lapt about his necke : A great white bucke, and as you may suppose, Right ore the same, (which doth it trimly decke) A crown there is, that makes a goodly shoe, A lyon blacke, and three bulles heads I troe: Three flowerdeluce, all fresh and white they were, Two swords, two crownes, with fayre long crosse is there. Three bats, whose wings were spreaded all at large, And three white barres were in these armes likewise: Let harrolds now, to whom belongs that charge, Describe these things, for me this may suffise. Yet further now, I forced am to goe, Of severall men, some other armes to shoe. Within that church, there lyes beneath the quere, These persons two, whose names now shall ye heare. THE ABMES OF ONE WATERS. In tombe of stone, full fayre and finely wrought, One Waters lyes, with wife fast by his side: Of some great stocke, these couple may be thought, As by their armes, on tombe may well be tride. Full at his feete, a goodly greyhound lyes, And at his head there is before your eyes Three libbarts heads, three cups, two eagles splayd, A fayre red crosse : and further to be sayd. A lyon blacke, a serpent fircely made, With tayle wound up : these armes thus endeth so. JAMES HOWEL'S FAMILIAR LET¬ TERS.—This renowned work, the pioneer, most probably, of all subsequent entertaining books of foreign travel, is full of sparkling wit, rollicking gossip anent the Court of the period, and historical fact. Howel was Breconshire born (at Cefn Bryn, Llangam- march), and was a courtier of the time of James I. He saw more than most men, and had a happy knack of making notes, which he addressed in a series of letters to dukes, earls, viscountesses, and ladies, and he did not forget to write to some of his kith and kin in the far-off little county of Breck¬ nock. The letters, " domestic and forren," commence in 1618, and are divided into four books, "partly historical, political, philo¬ sophical, upon emergent occasions." Letter xx. (section i.) is addressed to " my cousin, W. Vaughan, Esquire," from French-Brit¬ tany. In section n., letter vn. is "to my Father," in which he writes— I was lately with Sir John Walter, and others of your Councel, about law-business, and some of them told me that Mr J Lloyd, your adversary, is one of the shrewdest sollicitors in all the Thirteen Shires of Wales, being so habituated to Law Suits and Wrangling, that he knows any the least starting Hole in every Court: I could wish you had made a fair end with him, for besides the cumber and trouble, 'specially to those that dwell at such a huge distance from Westminster Hall as you do [his father was rector of Cilvaigo] Law is a shrewd Pick-Purse; and the Lawyer, as I heard one say wittily not long since, Is like a Christmas Box, which is sure to get ivhosoever loseth. The letter is signed "Your dutiful son, J.H." and is dated March 20th, 1621. In the following year, May 20th, he writes a char¬ acteristic letter addressed " to my brother, Mr Hugh Penry, upon his marriage," and we give it wholly: Sir,—You have had a good while the Interest of a Friend in me, but you have me now in a straighter Tie, for I am your Brother, by your late Marriage, which hath turn'd Friendship into an alliance ; you have in your Arms one of my dearest Sisters, who, I hope, nay, I know, will make a good Wife: I