Cylchgronau Cymru

Mar., 1882. BYE-GONE S. 21 of Wales and England, "may be fairly assumed to have at one time constituted the marches," for whilst this is undoubtedly true of the Welsh border counties and the more southern English ones, Cheshire, although a border county, does not appear to have ever been included in the Marches of Wales. Indeed a large part of what was subsequently Flintshire (one of the shires created out of the Welsh Marches by Henry VIII.) was originally part of Cheshire. A list of the Lords President of Wales and the Marches concludes this interesting pamphlet.—The Athenceum. CARREG CADFAN. (From the Oswestry Advcrtizer, Feb. 22.) Sir,—As I, at the request of an eminent Welsh archaeologist, lately had the honour to address a letter to the antiquarian readers of your valuable paper regarding the preservation of the above-named interesting relic, I think it probable that the following very courteous com¬ munication which I have received from the Vicar of Towyn, and which I have received his permission to pub¬ lish, may be of interest to all who are anxious that one of the most ancient of Welsh inscribed stones should be carefully preserved.—I am, &c, Charles J. Davies. (copy). The Vicarage, Towyn, Merioneth, Feb. 11. 1882. Dear Sir,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday and to thank you for your very kind interest, as expressed in your letter, in " Carreg Cadfan." I have endeavoured to see that no harm should befall this in¬ teresting stone during the work o f restoring the C hurch which is now going on. It certainly does appear to a casual visitor to the church as if the stone is not cared for, but I beg to assure you that such is not really the case. Strict orders have been repeatedly given, and I believe great care has been all along observed by the workmen not to touch the stone in such a way as would do it the least injury. When the restoration of the church is completed I trust something may be done to protect this ancient relic against the mutilations which have been done to it in the past. I shall be happy to receive subscriptions towards this ob j ect, and also towards preserving the equally interesting old church from decay and ruin. I am now spending £2,600 on the church, and about £1,200 more is wanted.—I have the honour to be, dear sir, yours obediently, Titus Lewis. Charles J. Davies, Esq. THE IRISH NIGHT, 1GSS.-A LETTER TO A SHROPSHIRE GENTLEMAN King's College, London. The following letter will be found of interest as a genuine contemporary account of a certain day in an eventful period of English history. It was written December 13th, 1688, the day after what the Londoners called "the Irish Night" (" the strangest and most terrible," says Macaulay, "that England had ever seen"), by Mr Richard Boycott of the Temple, to his brother, Mr Francis Boycott, in Shropshire, on the back of a copy of ' The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, 11th Decem¬ ber, 1688.' For permission to print it I have to thank a descendant of the family to which the writer belonged. The letter turned up accidentally one day inside a black- letter volume, where, generations since, probably, it had been safely deposited. It is superscribed, " For Mr ffrancis Boycott att Vppington. To be left att ye Bell short of Tearne Bridge neare Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Shiffnall Bagg." Sr,—In my last I gave you an acct yt her Matie ye Queene, Prince of Wales Ld Chansellor et had wtdrawne themselves, & yt ye Lds Spirituall andTemporall & Ld Major et mett in a <*rand Counsell att Guildhall to consult of matters in this juncture, att wh' time this Declaration, was drawne up by ye Lds and sent to ye Prince; and another by ye Lord Major & Aldermen wh' was likewise sent as from them. Since ye King's departure ye Rabble have beene very Outragious. They have pulld down ye Spanish Embassador's house & Chapell, & there was furniture and other things Burnt & Stole from ye house to ye value of neare threescore Thousand pounds. They have like¬ wise rifled ye Sweedish Embassadors house & a new house of my Ld Powis'es in Lincolnes Inneffeilds;—And last night there was such an Alarum in ye City, yt man woman and Child rose up & stood upon their guard: occasioned by a man yt came rideing into Towne & said yt there were 10,000 Irish comeing who killed all before them. This news soone spread all over the Towne & putt all things in the greatest Confusion imaginable, as Drums Beateing in every Corner guns goeing off et., but I thank God I heard none of this, till this morning art ! Eight of ye Clock tho' all the Temple were up in Armes and I severall of my acquaintance thumpt att my Doore yet notwte- j standing I slept soundly; It is thought ye Rabble sett this en ■j ffoott to gett a Booty in ye confusion; Yesterday morning my , Ld Chancellor, was taken att Wapping sitting in a little Ale- i house in a Seamans habbitt, whilest his things were putting on board a Hamborough merchant shipp ; and was brought up to Towne & by my Ld Major sent to ye Tower, but my Ld Major was soe tender hearted, that att ye sight of his old ffriend, he sounded away & fained againe att parting; This day we have ye certaine News of the King being taken at ffeversham in Kent, : together wie my Ld Peterborough, Sr Edward Hales late Governor of the Tower, & some say ffathr Peters we them. They ' were taken in a Yatt by some fnshermen, who when they found I 'twas the King, it is say'd they offer'd to convey him away, but ; he would not, so that we shall be dayly expecting him to Towne/ i Barron Jeimer together wt' one Burton & Graham (two greate | Court Solicitors) are likewise taken, & we have hourely Intelli- ! gence of Priests being taken in every Corner. The news of ye (iueenes being taken, we I hinted in my last, is not true tho' it ! is very much wished for./ The Prince of O was expected in | Towne this day but 'tis now said that he will not be up before the begining of next waeke, he will not venture himselfe w'out the Body of his Army, w' moves but slowly. —Yo et ! London, 13th Dec. 1688/ * R. B. For illustrations of this document the reader is referred ' to Macaulay's "History," vol. ii. pp. 188-195—or rather j one may say the document illustrates that passage of | Macaulay. It was on the morning of December 11th that James 1 left Whitehall in disguise; the Queen and her infant son i had escaped the day before. As to the " tender-heartedness ! of the Lord Mayor." and his swooning at the sight of his "old friend" Jeffreys in such dire trouble, Macaulay more plausibly explains the poor man's overwhelming distress as due to his disordered state of mind and body. His lordship lost his head in the midst of such appalling circumstances. " He fell into fits, and was carried to his bed, whence he never rose." The letter was evidently penned in the evening of the 13th. In the morning there was a_ rumour that the King had been detained and was still in the island. The re¬ port gathered strength during the day, and was fully con¬ firmed before the evening. King William did not, in fact, arrive in London till the 18th. (From, the Athenceum.) John W. Hales. MARCH 1, 1882. NOTES. SIR JOHN PRYCE OF NEWTOWN HALL— The following is the title page of a sermon in my posses¬ sion :—"The Happiness of Good Christians after Death. A Sermon Preach d at Newtown in Montgomery-shire April 28th 1732 Being the Anniversary of the Funeral of the Lady Pryce, wife of Sir John Pryce of Newtown-Hall Bart. By Thomas Richards, A.M. Rector of Llanfyllin. London: Printed by H. Woodfall, at Elzevir's Head, without Temple-Bar. 1732." 8vo. pp. 28, a black border round the title-page. J.P.E.