Cylchgronau Cymru

^ o "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 Brecon 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. FRIDAY, MARCH 26th, 1887. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS PUB-" LISHED IN BRECONSHIRE.—In reference to the enquiry in your issue of the 4th inst. for any in¬ formation relating to the above named subject, I beg to state that " Y Traethodydd " (P M. Evans and Son, Holywell), of, I believe, some 35 years ago, contained several articles, entitled " Llyfry- ddieath y Cymry," in which frequent reference was made to the Trefecca Press, and also to Brecon (Aberhonddu). The magazine itself is not within my reach just at present, or I would gladly give further particulars. I may be able, shortly, to do so, if you or some of your correspondents do not in the meantime deprive me of the pleasure. I believe that some of the descendants of the Trefecca Printers were settled and followed their calling at Talgarth, but I suppose the trade there rapidly declined. It was not an uncommon occurrence, in those days, to print Welsh books in London. I think I can yet lay my hand upon a work written by a Radnorshire clergyman (the Rev. Joshua Evans, if I remember rightly), of the nature of " Advice to Communi¬ cants," printed in Welsh in London by S. Richard¬ son, the author I suppose of " Sir Charles Grandi- son," "Pamela," &c. I have also in my possession a copy of the second edition of " Theomemphus," by Williams, of Pantycelyn, printed at Brecon in 1781. The preface is somewhat torn, and the name of the printer is lost; some of the final pages, too, are missing, but the body of the work is in fair preserva¬ tion. Brwynllys. JOHN WILLIAMS, PANTYCELYN.—(March 4th, 1887)—The Rev. J. B. Jones informs us, in your issue of the 4th inst, that he has recently seen the handwriting of both father and son of Pantycelyn. It may interest him and some other of your readers to know that a near relative of mine__ who is still living—once saw the latter and heard him preach. It was in the Methodist Chapel at Talgarth. The hearer was then, of course, young, but he distinctly remembers the preacher as a " little old, white-haired man." Both father and son were closely associated with the religious history of our county, the latter being, I believe, for some years in the charge of the college, maintained by the Countess of Huntingdon, at Lower Trefecca (now the College Farm). The intimacy between Howell Harris and the father is well-known, and doubtless occasioned many a visit by the latter to his spiritual birth-place—Talgarth. Business relations between the poet and Brecon printers must also have existed, as I have shown in another letter. Brwynllys. LLANDILO'RFAN.—In the January number of the able quarterly, the " Ceninen " (edited, by the way, by an old Memorial College student), there is a derivation of the above name given. It is this : Llan-dilo-ar-fawen ; the name of the brook running through the parish being " Mawen :" Llandilo-on- the-Mawen—to distinguish it from other Llandilos. I should like to know whether this is the correct derivation or not. What says our esteemed friend, Rev. James Powell ? Cymydoo. CURES FOR AILMENTS IN OLD TIMES.— Perhaps you would not mind amusing your readers by giving them some remarkable cures, in which our forefathers believed. 1. To cure or prevent cramp, take a small hone of a leg of mutton and carry it always about with you in your pocket. 2. A " wen " is said to be cured by the hand of a dead man while hanging on the gallows. 3. Persons in consumption were recommended soup made of dried snakes. Such snakes were kept on purpose in Covent Garden. 4. To cure warts, let the patient steal a piece of beef and bury it in the ground ; then, as the beef decays, the warts will gradually die away. 5. For hooping cough: Procure a live spider, shut it up between two walnut-sheUs and wear it on your person. X.Y. QUERIES. DAYS AND SEASONS.—WiU some of your readers kindly throw light on the following terms : Candlemai Day, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Valentines Day, Whirling Sunday, Simnel Sunday, Mothering Sunday, Carling Sunday, Windy Satur¬ day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Lifting, an April Fool, and Easter Eggs. Stephanos. WITCHCRAFT IN BRECONSHIRE.—WiU your readers have the kindness to write what they know of Witchcraft in our county. When and where have the witches lived ? Are there any still left? Superstitious. BUTCHERS AS JURORS.—Will some of your kind readers answer this question: "Was it ever and is it still a law, that butchers are disqualified, by the barbarity of their trade, from serving on juries?" Detynock. HEDGEHOGS MILKING COWS.—I should much like to know if there is any truth in the opinion that hedgehogs have the power and the in¬ clination to milk cows. Senny. REPLIES. THE WRITINGS of HUGH THOMAS. —In the very valuable and carefully pre¬ served collection of manuscripts at the