entertained there by the hofpitable owner. I vehemently fuspect, from the fize of the house, that at left two of them muft have flept together. My father has often told me a ridiculous ftory of the effect of a jolly evening paffed there by fome of the convivial neighbors. They had made very free with some ale which had been brewed with malt made of foul barley, unfortunately mixed with the feeds of a certain plant, which brought on a temporary blindness. The guests had not gone far before the symptoms feized them, and they were led back to their hoft, who was in the fame condition. They were fuddenly alarmed with a violent fcream in a female voice. It feems that the butlerefs, or female butler, had, in her repeated vifits to the cellar, fipped too plentifully of the cwrw, and, terrified with the effect, betrayed herself by giving unguardedly full vent to her fears. In those days the neighbors were much addicted to terming, i.e. brewing a barrel of ale at fome favorite ale-house, and staying there till it was all drunk out. They never went to bed, even should the term last a week; they either slept in their chairs or on the floor, as it happened, then awoke and refumed their jollity. At length, when the barrel was exhausted, they reeled away, and the hero of this Bacchanalian rout always carried the spiggot in triumph. Courfing was very frequently the occafion of these terms; each gentleman brought his gre-hound, and often made matches, more for the glory of producing the best dog, than for the value of the bet. TERMING. AT half a mile diftance, fouth of this houfe, ftands Merton, METON ABBOT. in the township of Merton Uwch Glan; I gave it the addition of Abbot, COMPLAINTS OF Abbot, to diftinguish it from the many others of the fame name. Ia was built in the year 1 572, and for the time was a tolerable house. This and the Holywell eftate was conveyed into our family by the marriage of David Pennant with Katherine Pennant, daughter and fole heiress of John Pennant, of Holywell, and Mary, daughter of Thomas ap Thomas ap Edward, of Merton. John was fourth in defcent from Nicholas Pennant, laft abbot of Bafingwerk, and fon of Thomas ap David, &c. &c. his predeceffor in the abbotship. David Pennant, who made this valuable acquifition, died in 1666; Katherine farvived him till the year 1700. This was the only marriage that added much to our estate fince the time of Madoc ap Thomas ap Meilir, who fat down at Bychton with the heiress of Philip O'Phicdan, hereafter to be mentioned. THE two Mertons, Uwch Glan and Is Glan, are adjacent townfhips. They were, at the time of compiling the Doomsday Book, undivided, and known by the Saxon name of Meretone, or the township bordering over the fea. THE noblemen of Tegengl drew up a memorial, which they presented to John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, containing, among numbers of other grievances, the wrong done to the men of Merton. The archbishop (who in 1281 came down on the christian design of reconciling the differences between Edward I. and Llewelyn) feemed to pity their fufferings; but it is not probable that the king paid any attention to their representations, as he was then in full march against our gallant countrymen, determined to make an effectual conquest of an enemy who gave him fo much ferious disturbance. ABOVE ABOVE three hundred yards from my houfe, on the oppofite DOWNING UCHA'. fide of a dingle, ftands another Downing, the feat of my worthy neighbor and friend Thomas Thomas, efq. His good father came into poffeffion of it about the year 1749, by marriage with Mifs Mary Lloyd, heirefs of the place, and defcended from Edwyn, prince or lord of Tegengl. His Llys or palace was near Northop. My much-lamented friend the Reverend John Lloyd, of Caerwys, was of opinion that the fat figure on one of the tomb-stones in Northop church, represented this chieftain. MR. Thomas was of Llechweddgarth in Montgomeryshire. (See Tour in Wales, ii. 349) defcended from Broch wel Ycythrog, prince of Powis, who bore fable three nags heads erased argent. Before Mr. Thomas's arrival, a fierce feud raged between the two houses, as usual in days of yore; which, on his appearance, was changed into lafting peace. I cannot but mention a cruel revenge which the Montagues ufed to take on their neighbor Capulet, by the advantage of a ftream which ran through their grounds in its way to our kitchen, where it was applied to the purpose of a jack for the turning of a fpit. How often has that important engine been ftopped before it had performed half its evolutions! our poor Capulet fwearing, lady crying, Cogefs fuming, and nurse screaming! But 4 To hear the children mutter, When they loft their bread and butter, It would move a heart of stone. In the footway to Bychton is the wood, the Sylva mentioned in the Doomsday Book. At the time of that compilation it was CRUEL FEUDk. WHITEFORD A LLYS. LINK OF TUDOR valued at 20 s. only. Poffibly the value did not increase greatly in the beginning of the fixteenth century, when my ancestor, Hugh Pennant of Bychton (eighteenth in defcent from their common: ftock) married Jonet, daughter of Richard ap Howel, of Moftyn, who led his troops to Bofworth Field. Tradition fays, that (money being wondrous fcarce in thofe days) he was offered this wood as a portion with the lady; which our family rejected, as of no value in 'a country of forefts. I cannot eftimate the thousands it would have been worth at prefent, or in course of time. In this wood are the remains of fome antient Llys, or palace, as my friend, the late antiquary of Caerwys, ufed to maintain. I can only fay, that to judge of the foundations, our palaces in those days were not very splendid. THE line of Tudor Trevor, with all its branches, is fo frequently fpoken of, that I shall here continue his defcent. He was son of Ynger ap Cadvarch, earl of Hereford, in right of his wife Rbiengar, daughter and heir of Llwdocca ap Karadoc Vreichvras, or the earl of Hereford, grandson to the faid Karadoc, and greatgrandfon to Karadoc Vreichuras, earl of Hereford and Marchiogen, in the time of prince Arthur, and who had besides the honor of being one of the knights of the round table. Tudor married Angharad, daughter to Howel Dda, prince of Wales, renowned for his wife laws, who quitted his government and retired to Rome, and there died in 948, whose death was fore bewailed of all men, for he was a prince that loved peace and good order, and that feared God.' I am forry to deprive our ancestor of his title of earl: the Welsh had none fuch among them. Our great men men had that of Arglwydd or Lord, and the chief or monarch THE families defcended from this chieftain were exceedingly numerous, but thofe ftill exifting in the male line are only the following: Thomas Trevor Hampden viscount Hampden, Richard Pennant Lord Penrhyn, Sir Roger Moftyn, and the Moftyns of Bryngwyn, of Segrwyd, branches of his family, and Sir Pyers Moftyn, Eytons of Eyton, Wynnes of Gwerninvawr, Jones's, of Llwynon, and Jeffries's, of Alton, exifting in my friend the Rev. Dr. Jeffries, refidentiary of St. Paul's, and worthy Rector of Whiteford, and the Pennants of Bychton. ADJACENT to this wood is my paternal feat, I may fay the primæval feat of our family. The date, on a piece of wood over an added window, is 1572. This gives an idea of the house of a gentleman of middling eftate in those days. There was a much more antient date on a beam in the barn, which was inadvertently destroyed when I new built it. I lived at this feat in 1761 and 1762; at that time I recollect buying of the tenant, who with great civility quitted it to me, his ftock of wheat at 8. the hobbet, confifting of two measures; of forty-one quarts each. BYCHTON. |