Cylchgronau Cymru

May 24, 1893. BYfi-GOtt£S. 85 Not of oar colder Northern Art sedate, But lighter, blending East and West in one, A flower of Fancy quickened by the sun, Yet keeping still, to guard our Regal state, The Lions at the gate. Here, in the stately chambers everywhere, And corridors with veined marbles, fine, The treasures of the wood, the sea, the mine, All kindly fruits our wide dominions bear, And corn, and oil, and wine— With all the gains enfranchised Labour brings, Are ranged to-day, to deck these ordered halls, Whereon no shadow of the sheathed sword falls; But Peace, an angel, folds her golden wings, And Commerce, smiling, calls. Dream, Prince, the dream dear to thy Sire and thee ! Fulfil it, Fate ! Here let the toiler come And find sure guidance to his waiting home And honest work, and rear in days to be New Britains over sea. Here let the Daughter-Nations, East and West And North and South, take counsel and discern How fair their mighty Mother is, and yearn With love renewed, content awhile to rest Safe on her fostering breast. Till drawn together nearer, they shall bind Close bonds of love for all of British blood; Then, our broad subject-realms in brotherhood; Then, our great alien kinsmen, heart and mind; Then, if Heaven will, mankind! Peal joy-bells,unawakened yet, nor cease! Peal till our isles and continents rejoice !# Fling far and wide a new harmonious Voice ! While, through long ages yet, our realms increase In Unity and Peace ! MAY 24, 1893. NOTES. BWYD CENAD Y MEIRW (ALL SOULS' CAKES).—The custom of going from house to house on All Saints' Day, and begging for the good will of neighbours, still survives in the parishes of Llangwm, Llanfihangel G.M., and Cer- rigydrudion. It is confined now to children, and the gifts are mostly small coins and apples, and pieces of bread and butter. When one asks what he wants, the child will answer " Hel bwyd cenad y meirw." (Ask for food as mes&enger from the dead.) R- DOLGELLEY GAOL.—CURIOUS CUSTOM. —I was first sent to gaol in July, 1869 ; and the gaol at Dolgelley was the first building of the kind I was sent to. Happily, I was not sent there for incarceration, but as an escort to a prisoner. The building was then being partly re-built and enlarged. The commitment which authorized me to take my prisoner there was directed " To the Keeper of the House of Correction at Dolgelley." In newspaper and ordinary parlance the officer in charge was called " Gaoler," and the building was called the "Gaol;" but officially it was the "Keeper"and the "House of Correction." In the year 1878 county gaols were abolished, and " Prisons " substituted ; and the commitments are now directed to the " Governor of her Majesty's Prison at---------." Some of the old county gaols were converted into Government prisons, but Dolgelley gaol was pulled down. The prisoners were removed from there to Ruthin on the 30th of April, 1878. About the same time the re¬ mains of Cadwaladr Jones, who had been exe¬ cuted in November, 1877, for the murder of Sarah Hughes, were exhumed and sent to Chester Castle for re-interment. But these lines are intended as a preface to a very short discourse. What I in¬ tended to call attention to was the free and easy mode of dealing with prisoners at Dolgelley about sixty years ago. Thegaoler,or " keeper,"then was Mr Edmund Jones, a native, I believe, of the town, Mr Jones was so kind, and the regulations were so lax, that the prisoners had occasional permission to go for a few hours at night to visit their friends in town, and to enjoy their pipe and pot of beer, And although some of them would stay out late, I am informed that Mr Jones never lost a prisoner ; they would always return "home," as some of them called it. Mr Jones used to call his priso¬ ners children ; and when one or two of them stayed out longer than usual he used to remark—" Mae'r plant yma allan yn hwyr iavvn heno " (" These children are out very late to-night"). It must not be understood that this leave was given to strangers ; but only to those well known to the gaoler. There are very few at Dolgelley at present who remember anything about this, but when I lived there twenty-three years ago this gaol reminiscence was frequently discussed. Mr Edmund Jones died in July, 1845,aged 84 years ; but had resigned his office as gaoler some years before his death. He was succeeded by Mr Lewis Williams, father of Mr Lewis Williams, auctioneer, Dolgelley, who held the post for about ten years. Mr Williams was succeeded by a Mr Jones, an Englishman. 1 have been unable to ascertain how long he held the post, or anything about him more than that two of his sons, George and William, were drowned whilst bathing at Penmaenpool, and were buried in Dolgelley churchyard, the new church¬ yard I believe. This Mr Jones was succeeded by Mr Richard Owens, who held the post many years, and on his death was succeeded by his son-in-law, Mr Owen Thomas. Mr Thomas,when the gaol was abolished in 1878, was appointed governor of Car¬ marthen prison, where he died a few years ago. Now the Merionethshire prisoners are sent to Car¬ narvon prison, except from the Bala and Corwen Petty Sessional Divisions,from which they are senb to Ruthin prison. C.A. QUERIES. A CROWING HEN.—Will some one kindly inform me if the superstition is general that if a