Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

Lvg. 30, 1899. BYE-GONES. 191 survived by her and by three children. Mr Hughes Parry paid a visit to this country last summer. ^he Ipate Jfahola* Jtemutt, ©sq, of dkn-gr-afrnt. It is with much regret that we record the death, whitfa took place on Friday morning, at the ag3 of 76. of Mr Nicholas Bennett of Gkn-yr-pfon, Trefeglwys. A man of good estate and a thoroughly patriotic Welshman, Mr Benrett, who belonged to a family which had been settled in the neighbourhood of Trefeglwys for more than three centuries — in the reign of James I. a Nicholas Bennett was Mayor of Oaersws—occupied a position of pecu¬ liar interest amongst his neighbours. A keen sportsman, he established ube Glan-yr-afon Pack, which afforded good sport to (the neighbourhood; and, a man of fi"0 teste, he converted his home into a miniature Welsh national museum, one of the most valued contents of which is a manuscript volume descriptive of the heraldic arms of the Welsh princes, illustrated with blazonments made by Mr Bennett's nephew, ttie late Mr Breese Bennett Owen. Leading the life of an old-fashion¬ ed Welsh squire, Mr Bennett was never happier than when promoting a spirit of good-fellowship amongst his neighbours. His most intimate friends were Welsh bards, such as Oeiriog and Mynyddog, and harpists were always welcomed at Glan-yr-afon. The late Mr John Robert? of Newtown wras a frequent visitor, and one of Mr Bennett's self-imposed tasks, which, unhappily, he did not live to complete, was the raising of a fund1 for the erection of a monument to Mr Roberts's memory. Mr Bennett did good work in the collection of Welsh manuscripts and ob¬ jects illlus'trative of Welsh history, but his favourite pursuit was the collection of folk songs and heraldic lore, which resulted in the publication, a few years ago, of two fine folio volumes, entitled "Alawon fy Ngwlad" ("The Lays of My Land."), The work contains some five hundred Welsh airs and folk eorgi?. iwhich until Mr Bennett collected them, only existed for the most part in manuscript or in the memory of harpists and pennillion singers. The work was a labour of love, extending over fifty years, and in his preface Mr Bennett says:—"I look back with mingled feelings of joy and sor¬ row to the time when I secured many an eld air of exquisite beauty from some venerable harpist or aged pennillion singer tottering on the brink of the grave." The collection has been harmon¬ ized and arranged for harp and pianoforte by Mr D. Emlyn Evans. In politics Mr Bennett was a moderate Conser¬ vative, and of recent years he belonged to the Established Church. He was mainly instrumental in obtaining th<» ersctioi ^f a church at LWvr-y- glyn, in the welfare of which he took a deep in¬ terest. He was on the comimission of the peace for the county, and until his health began to fail he was a regular occupant of the bench a* Llan¬ idloes. Mr Bennett was unmarried, and his estate passes to his brother, Mr Edward Bennett of Khyd-y-carw. The funeral took place on Monday at Treleglwyg parish church. AUGUST 30, 1899. NOTES. MORNING THEATRICALS AT LUDLOW IN 1771.—Urban, writing in Notes and Queries (July 22, 1899, p. 67), says: — Speaking of Ludlow races in 1771, Mrs Philip Lybbe Powys, in a passage from one of her just published diaries, describes an Assembly Ball on the day of the race, saying that the company came home to supper and bed at nearly five. She then continues :—" The following morn 'tis the custom of the place for all the company to meet at the theatre, which is a very pretty one, and always a good set of actors; the play always bespoke by the stewards' ladies. It was now 'The Author and the Citizen,' indeed perform'd exceedingly well. This was not over till dinner-time." As people then dined early, probably at three, this must have been what is now miscalled a matinee. Is any instance of a morning or afternoon performance at anything like so early a date to be traced ? There is no such play as " The Author and the Citizen." The works given were doubtless "The Author, by Foote, first produced ac Drury Lane, 5 Eeb., 1757, and "The Citizen," by Arthur Murphy, given at the same house 2 July, 1761. W.O. CAPEL GWNDA.—An old chapel of ease in the parish ol Troed-yr-aur. Gwnda is a corrup¬ tion of the name Gwyndaf, who was mostly called Gwyndaf Hen. Gwyndaf was the son of Emyr Llydaw, and was a chaplain in the congregation of Illtyd, and afterwards was appointed the superior of the congregation of Dyfrig at Caer- lleon-ar-Wysg. In his old age he retreated to Enlli. He flourished about the middle of the sixth century. A tradition exists in this neigh¬ bourhood that he was on a pilgrimage after his retreat, when he came to this place, where he knelt in prayer, and when he arose hie knees had made holes in the rock, and from them sprang a medicine for wounds, which effected a cure only for the people of the parish. He became known to a lord living close by, who took him to his residence, and Gwyndaf gave his blessing on his family and the neighbourhood. The lord also gave land to erect a place of wor¬ ship, and the chapel was called after Gwyndat's name. He left here for Pembrokeshire. There is a church in that county called Llanwnda, and another in Carnarvonshire. The chapel stood on the bank of tho river Ceri, where now stands the Rectory. A tradition says that the stone which holds the gate near the house, on the right-hand side, was the altar stone of the old chapel. A sculptured stone also was found in the river about a mile further down at the end of the lasb century. Instead of being pub in a safe keeping, ifc was taken to a farm called Rhan- dir, and used as a flagstone before the door. I