Page:Notes and Queries - Series 1 - Volume 1.djvu/466

456 that the passage can only be entered sideways, with the figure inclined according to the slanting of the rock.

"The history of Twm Sion Catti (pronounced Toom Shone Catti), alias Thomas Jones, Esq., is very romantic. He was a natural son of John ap David Moethe, by Catharine, natural daughter of Meredydd ap Ivan ap Robert, grandfather of Sir John Wynne, of Gwydir (see The Heraldic Visitations of Wales, published by the Welsh MSS. Society), and is said to have died in 1630, at the age of 61. In early life, 'he was a notorious freebooter and highwayman,' and levied black mail on the country within reach of his mountain abode, with the aid of a small band of followers. He soon reformed, married a rich heiress, was then created a justice of peace for Brecon, and ultimately became sheriff of that county and Carmarthenshire. He was, observes Sir S. R. Meyrick, esteemed as an antiquarian and poet, but is more known for the tricks attributed to him as a robber." A.B.

Twm Sion Catti.—The noted robber, Twm Sion or Shon Catti, referred to at No. 24. p. 383., was a Welshman who flourished between the years 1590 and 1630, He was the natural son of Sir John Wynne, and obtained his surname of Catti from the appellation of his mother, Catherine. In early life he was a brigand of the most audacious character, who plundered and terrified the rich in such a manner that his name was a sufficient warrant for the raising of any sum which he might desire; while his unbounded generosity to the poor or unprotected, joined to an innate love of fun and frolic—for he was a very Eulenspiegel—made him the darling of the people. His chosen dwelling-place was in the almost inaccessible cave situated near Llandovery, at the junction of the Tywi and the Dethia (the Toothy of Drayton), which still bears his name. As time passed on, he wooed and won the heiress of Ystrad-ffin, in the vale of Tywi; and on becoming possessed of her property, abandoned his wild life, and with it the name of Catti; and quietly subsiding into Thomas Jones, Esq., became a poet and antiquary of high reputation. In addition to which, and as if to mark their sense of the value of a man so powerful for good or far evil, the government appointed him high sheriff for the county of Carmarthen. He died universally respected, and left a name which yet kindles many a Welsh heart, or amuses many a cottage circle in the long nights of winter.

His life has been published in an 8vo. volume, which was probably the work to which the "Note" of "" referred.

Cheshire Round (No. 24. p. 383.).—A dance so called, peculiar to the county from whence it takes its name. The musical notes of the Cheshire Round may be seen in The Dancing Master, 1721, vol. i., and in Edward Jones' Cheshire Melodies. It was sometimes danced "longways for as many as will" (as described in The Dancing Master), but more frequently by one person. A handbill of the time of William the Third states, "In Bartholomew Fair, at the Coach-House on the Pav'd stones at Hosier-Lane-End, you shall see a Black that dances the Cheshire Rounds to the admiration of all spectators." Michael Root and John Sleepe, two clever caterers of "Bartlemy," also advertise "a little boy that dances the Cheshire Round to perfection." There is a portrait of Dogget the celebrated comedian (said to be the only one extant, but query if it is not Penkethman?), representing him dancing the Cheshire Round, with the motto "Ne sutor ultra crepidam."

 Horns to a River.—Why the poets give horns to rivers, must be sought for in the poet's book, nature. I like the interpretation given by a glance up some sinuous arid shelving valley, where the mighty stream, more than half lost to the eye, is only seen in one or two of its bolder reaches, as it tosses itself here to the right, and there to the left, to find a way for its mountain waters.

The third question about horns I am not able to answer. It would be interesting to know where your correspondent has found it in late Greek.

Horns.—For answer to the third Query of "L. C." (No. 24. p. 383.), I subscribe the following, from Coleridge: —

Coal Brandy (No. 22. p. 352.).—This is only a contraction of "coaled brandy," that is, "burnt brandy," and has no reference to the purity of the spirit. It was the "universal pectoral" of the last century; and more than once I have seen it prepared by "good housewives" and "croaking husbands" in the present, pretty much as directed in the following prescription. It is only necessary to remark, that the orthodox method of "coaling," or setting the brandy on fire, was effected by dropping "a live coal" ("gleed") or red-hot cinder into the brandy. This is copied from a leaf of paper, on the other side of which are written, in the hand of John Nourse, the great publisher of scientific books in his day, some errata in the first. 8vo. edit, of Simson's Euclid, and hence may be referred to the year 17G2. It was written evidently by some