Cylchgronau Cymru

40 THE CAMBRIAN REMEMBRANCER. MAR., 1878. I sat the other evening in the company of six learned men, not one of whom could give an account of the two great " Dykes " mentioned at the head of this paper. There can be no doubt, I suppose, that at one lime the rivers Dee and Severn separated Wales from England; all to the east being English territory, all to the west Welsh. This division probably continued until Offa drove the Welsh to their mountains and then constructed his famous " Dyke," from a point en the Severn, near Chepstow, to a point on the Dee, where that river separates the present Flintshire from Denbighshire. If that is so in fact, we may conclude that Offa intended to make this dyke the line of separation between the two peoples. How came 4' Watt's Dyke" to be constructed, and for what objects 1 la many places they come close together, and so close indeed at times that well-informed antiquarians are in doubt as to which is which. This is one of those numerous subjects which require to be more carefully expounded to the general reader than they have been in the past. Every year adds to the number of young men who desire to become better acquainted with the incidents of our early history, and every year too the old landmarks which had to depend upon tradition for support are being removed. We care less and less about what people say, and more for facts which can be authenticated. That is a good sign of the times, but how are these faces to be made known to us,and how authenticated, if well- read men are content to say natling upon them ? I may be told that every information can be obtained in standard works, or in learned quarterlies but the masses cannot get at these authorities, and if they are to become acquainted with the facts of history they must be brought to them in a way that is use¬ ful and come-at-able. Thanks to the cheap news¬ papers, this is practicable now-a-days, and thanks to you sir, a special.corner is appropriated in;your widely circulated ' Herald' where all who run may read pre¬ cious trifles about Cambria by way of Notes and Queries, most of vvhieh our fathers were strangers to. We are often told how good a thing it is to have "one educated gentleman " in every parish. In these reading days every one of these gentlemen may be¬ come a most useful teacher, a benefactor to his generation ; and I desire above all things to see clergymen, and educated Nonconformist ministers, applying themselves to the new system of education which a cheap press places at their disposal. In every parish within the bounds of North Wales there is some point of interest to note ; these notes lead the anxious reader to inquiry, and thus beget useful queries ; which, in their turn, call forth valu¬ able replies. The whole in combination help to create a reading and reflecting public, and we may hope lead men also to look up from earthly things to higher ones. Thus we have sermons in stones, and who among us can tell how the sown seed may fructify for good, not only to men's minds but to their souls also, eo that when the end comes the garnering will prove a great cause of rejoicing to the rninstering hand that cast bread forth upon many waters. I humbly aBk all who can help in this way tu elevate their countrymen, to do so* The labour of love will be all the sweeter because it's done freely and for a good and useful purpose. The reward will be all the greater when, in the process of time, it will be seen that this labour of love has not been undertaken in vain. Patriot. The Morgans or Golden Grove, Flintshire. —There is nothing so touching to a Welshman as to see the old ancestral leaders of his countrymen removed from the homes that have become historical in the annals of his nation. It is just three hundred years since Captain Morgan, a celebrated Cambrian, built the old mansion house hard-by Gwaenysgor, and from that time down to the other day, when the house and estate sutrounding it, and the household gods of the family, were sold, it has been the home of a race somewhat renowned in Flintshire history. Edward Morgan, who lived in that house in 1578, married Catherine, daughter of John Davies of Gwysanney, in the same county, and his son Edward, a lawyer of eminence, made it his home afterwards, and died there in 1611. He was succeeded by his son Robert; and he by his son William ; he by his son Edward, who was slain at Warrington Bridge. Then his son Edwardsucceededs and, dying in 1682, was followed by another P]dward who was high sheriff of his county in 1701; he by another Edward, a hi<>h sherifl in 1738 ; and he by Peter, high sheriff in 1752 ; he by Edward, who was high sheriff in 1792, and dying in 1831 was followed by- Edward Morgan, whose name and fame was as well known to Flintshire men of the last generation as that of any man in the county. He was born in 1793, and in 1827 he married Charlotte, daughter of Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle of Heartoheath, who gave the late Duke of York so much trouble in Parliament. This gallant man fought in almost every action ia the Peninsula, and was severely wounded at Albuerf. This is not the place to dwell upon his public character, but he may be classed among the worthies of the shire ; and, in bidding him and the old house a loving farewell, we may hope that his memory will be ever green in the remembrance ou all the future historians of the Golden Grove, in which he and his forefathers had dwelt for to long a period of time. Flintensis. MARCH 9th, 1878. NOTES. The Bagots and the Salisburt.es.—The Warden of Ruthin, in his genial speech at the Bagot coming of age dinner.made two slight mistakes in relation to the Bagot and Salisbury families; which,for historical purposes, had better be corrected at once. He is re¬ ported to have said, " The Salisburys took their name from a town in Austria or Hungary." Whereas, hi fact, they did so from Saltzburgh in Bavaria. This can be verified in divers ways, but it will suffice to quote the authority of Mrs Piozzi (herself a Salis¬ bury) upon this point. She says in Vol. ii. of bet " Observations and Reflections on a Journey through