threatened by a man, who fancied he had been injured by him, "with "the vengeance of St. Elian, and "a journey to his well, to curse "him with effect."* "Some of these wells are held in great repute for the cure of discases; and the saints are also occasionally applied to for the recovery of stolen goods. In the parish of Abergeley, in Caernarvonshire, there was for merly a well dedicated to St. George, who was the Welsh tutelary saint of horses. All these animals that were distempered, were brought to the well, sprinkled with water, and received this blessing: Rhad Duw a Sant Siors arnut, "the blessing of "God and St. George be on thee." It was the custom of those who kept a great number of horses, at certain times, to make an offering of one of them to the saint, in order to secure his blessing on all the rest. If a well of any sa'nt was near the church, the water for baptism was always fetched from thence; and, after the ceremony, the old women would frequently wash their eyes in the water of the font. "Some years ago it was a custom in the churches of North Wales, whenever the name of the devil occurred, for every one of the congregation to spit upon the floor. This was done to shew their con. tempt of the evil spirit. Whenever the name of Judas was mentioned, they expressed their abhorrence of him by striking their breasts. "On the morning of Christmasday, about three o'clock, the inhabitants used formerly to assemble in the churches; and, after the prayers and sermon were concluded, they continued their singing psalms * Tour in Wales, ii. 337. Welshman says (to Henry V.)"They did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable padge of the service.”* "The middle and lower classes of the people were formerly much addicted to terming, that is, brewing a barrel of ale at some favourite ale-house, and staying there till it was all drunk out. They never went to bed, though the term should even last a whole week. They slept in their chairs, or on the floor, as it happened, and the moment they awoke, they renewed their jollity. At length, when the barrel was exhausted, they reeled away home. The hero of this Bacchanalian route always carried off the spiggot in triumph. "The peasantry of part of Caernarvonshire, Anglesea, and Merionethshire, adopt a mode of courtship, which till within the last few years was scarcely even heard of in England. It is the same that is common in many parts of America, and termed by the inhabitants of that continent bundling. The lover steals, under the shadow of the night, to the bed of his fair one, into which (retaining an essential part of his dress) he is admitted without any shyness or reserve. Saturday or Sunday nights are the principal times when this courtship takes place, and on these nights the men sometimes walk from a distance of ten miles or more, to visit their favourite damsels. This strange custom seems to have originated in the scarcity of fuel, and in the consequent unpleasantness of sitting together in the colder parts of the year, without a fire. Much has been said of the innocence with which these meetings are conducted. This may be the case in some instances, but it is a very common thing for the consequence of the intercourse to make its appearance in the world within two or three months after the mar riage ceremony has taken place. The subject excites no particular attention among the neighbours, provided the marriage be made good before the living witness is brought to light. Since this custom is entirely confined to the labouring classes of the community, it is not so pregnant with danger as on a first supposition it might seem. Both parties are so poor, that they are necessarily constrained to render their issue legitimate, in order to secure their reputation, and with it a mode of obtaining a livelihood. "Their weddings are usually attended by all the neighbours, sometimes to the number of thirty or upwards. After the ceremony, the day is dedicated to festivity, and is chiefly spent in drinking and singing. At a wedding in the little village of Llanberis, I observed in the church as many as twenty or five and twenty attendants. A collection is made on their return to the house to defray the expences of the occasion, to which, of course, every one contributes. A good idea of the rest of the business may be collected from a pleasant account of a wedding-feast in Cwm y Clo, near Llanberis. "A fire of square peat, and sufficiently dried, Was spread on the hearth, and at least four feet wide; * Shakspeare's Henry V. act 4th. come; When each swain had the pleasure to lead his nymph home." "In South Wales, previous to the weddings of the peasantry, a herald, with a crook or wand adorned with ribands, sometimes makes the circuit of the neighbourbood, and proclaims his bidding, or invitation, in a prescribed form; but the knight-errant cavalcade on horseback, the carrying off the bride, the rescue, the wordy war in rhyme between the parties, which once formed a singular spectacle of mock contest at the celebration of nuptials, is now almost, if not altogether, laid aside, throughout every part of the principality.* "The funerals are attended by greater crowds of people than even their weddings. In the funeral that I attended at Llanberis, which has been described in the preceding volume, there were at least a hundred attendants. A custom prevails in this country of each individual of the congregation making some offering in money on these occasions, which, if done in the church, is paid as a mark of respect to the clergyman. This custom, which is at present confined to North Wales, has doubtless been retained from the Romish religion, where the money was intended as a recompence to the priests, for their trouble in singing mass for the soul of the deceased. In some cases, where the clergyman is not respected by his parishioners, the offerings are made on the coffin at the door of the house where the deceased resided, and are distributed amongst the poor relatives.When, however, the offerings are made in the church, and the other mode very rarely occurs, the whole of the morning or evening prayers for the day, and the usual part of burial service in the church, are first read; the next of kin to the deceased then comes forward to the altar table, and, if it is a poor person, puts down sixpence or a shilling, but if he is sufficiently opulent, half a crown or a crown, and some、 times even so much as a guinea. This example is followed by the other relatives, and afterwards by the rest of the congregation whose situation in lifewill afford it, who advance in turns and offer. When the offering of silver is ended, a short pause ensues, after which, those who cannot spare any larger sum, come forward and put down each a penny (a halfpenny not being admitted). Collections, on these occasions, have been known to amount to ten or fifteen pounds, but where the relatives are indigent, they do not often exceed three or four shillings. In cases where families are left in distress, this money is usually given by the clergyman to them. When the col lection is entirely finished, the body is taken to the grave, the remainder of the burial service is read, and the awful ceremony is there closed. The offerings at Llanbublic, the parish church of Caernarvon, sometimes amount to fifty or sixty pounds a year. "It is usual, in several parts of North Wales, for the nearest female relation to the deceased, be she widow, mother, sister, or daugh ter, to pay some poor person of the same sex, and nearly of the same age with the deceased, for procuring slips of yew, box, and other evergreens to strew over and ornament the grave for some weeks after interment; and in some instances for weeding and adorning it on the eves of Easter, Whitsuntide, and the other great festivals, for a year' or two afterwards. This gift is called diodlys, and it is made on a plate at the door of the house, where, at the same time, the body is standing on a bier. It had its name from the custom, which is now discontinued, of the female relative giving to the person a piece of cheese with the money stuck in it, some white bread, and afterwards a cup of ale. When this previous ceremony is over, the clergyman, or, in his absence, the parish clerk, repeats the Lord's prayer; after which they proceed with the body to the church. Four of the next of kin take the bier upon their shoulders; a custom which is considered as expressive of the highest mark that even filial piety can pay to the deceased. If the distance from the house to the church be considerable, they are relieved by some of the congregation; but they always take it again before they arrive at the church. I have been informed that, in some parts of the country, it is usual to set the bier down at every crossway, and again when they enter the church-yard, and at each of these places to repeat the Lord's prayer. "In some parts of Wales it was formerly customary for the friends of the dead to kneel on the grave, and there to say the Lord's prayer for several Sundays subsequent to the interment, and then to dress the grave with flowers. It was also reckoned fortunate for the deceas ed if a shower of rain came on while they were carrying the body to church, that his coffin might be moistened with the tears of heaven. "I have observed that, in most parts of North Wales, the same practice prevails which is common in England, of crowding all the bodies into that part of the church-yard which is south of the church. The only reason that I heard the Welsh people give for this custom is, that the north is the wrong side. The true reason, however, is, that formerly it was customary for persons, on entering a church-yard, and seaing the grave of a friend or acquaintance, to put up to heaven a prayer for the peace of their soul; and since the entrances to churches were usually either on the west or south side, those persons who were interred on the north escaped the common notice of their friends, and thereby lost the benefit of their prayers. Thus the north side becoming a kind of refuse spot, only paupers, still-born infants, or persons guilty of some crimes, were buried there.* "In Mr. Pratt's Gleanings thro' Wales, I observe a charmingly animated description of the neatness and elegance of the Welsh churchyards, and of the attention that is bestowed by the surviving relatives to the graves of their kindred: but I am sorry to say, if this gentleman has stated facts, that the custom is not general, as he has asserted ; it must be completely local. During the seven months that I spent in visiting and examining North Wales, |