230 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 38., Sept. 20. 'oG. 



noted down no fewer than ten instances. Surely 

 tliere is no sufficient warrant for this. If it be 

 pleaded that such is the older form of writing, and 

 of frequent occurrence in tl)e Bible and other 

 books, the plea might be admitted if Mr. Trench's 

 practice were consistent with4tself, but numerous 

 as are such examples, they are yet exceptional 

 with him, Mr. Trench following for the most part 

 the generally recognised rule. Can such an ar- 

 bitrary preference be defended ? J. B. 

 Prestwich. 



St. Tiidno. — Can any of your correspondents, 

 learned in Cambrian Anihaeology, give me, or 

 direct me where I could find, any information 

 with respect to St. Tiidno, to whom some churches 

 in Wales are dedicated ? A. G. H. 



Clifton. 



[We are indebted to a pfentleman well versed in Cam- 

 brian antiquities for the following curious notices of St. 

 Tudno and his family : — 



"An inundation — probably the third which had oc- 

 curred — of the Lowlands now submerged beneath the 

 waters of Cardigan Bay, is thus commemorated in the 37th 

 Triad (Triads of the Isle of Britain): — 'Three capital 

 drunkards in the Isle of Britain: Geraint (Gerontius, 

 Angl. Grant), the drunkard King of Siluria, who in a fit 

 of intoxication committed to the flames the whole extent 

 of ripe grain in his territories, whence ensued a famine 

 of bread. Second, Vortigern Vorthfenau, who, in his 

 drunken revelry, for permission to take his daughter 

 Ronwen (Rowena) for his mistress, made over to Ilorsa 

 the Saxon the Isle of Thanet: wheni^e originated the 

 treason against the race of the Kymbri. The third, 

 Seithenin the Drunkard, the son of Seithj^n Saidi, King 

 of Dimetia, who, in his intoxication, let in the ocean 

 through the flood-gates, over the Cantrev y Gwaelod 

 (the Lowland Hundred), and thus destroyed sixteen of 

 the noblest cities of Cambria, inferior to none in tiie king- 

 dom but Carleon-on-Uske. The Lowland Hundred was 

 the patrimony of Guyddno Garantur (Venutius Long- 

 shanks), and the inundation took place in the reign of 

 Ambrosius the British Emperor, (a.d. 470.)' 



" In consequence of the loss of their hereditary estates, 

 and of the odium excited in the public mind by the act 

 of their father, the children of Seithenin embraced a 

 religious life : taking the monastic vow in the monastery 

 of Great Bangor on the Dee. These children were : — 

 1. GwynodI, son of Seithenyn, the founder of Llan-Gwy- 

 nodl, Carnarvonshire. Festival, January 1. 2. Merin 

 or Merini, son of Seithenyn, founder of Llan-Venn, Mon- 

 mouthshire. Festival, January 6. His residence for 

 nianj' years, as a popular instructor to as many as chose 

 to attend his school, was at Bod-verin, now the name of 

 a chapel under Llaniesten, Carnarvonshire 3. Senfevyr, 

 a .saint: no memorial. 4. Tudglyd, a saint: no me- 

 morial. 5. Tyneio, founder of Llan-dyneio, a daughter- 

 church under Llanvarn, Carnarvonshire. 6. Tudno, 

 founder of Llan-dudno, Carnarvonshire. Commemora- 

 tion, June .5th, obiit circiter a.d. .540. 



" The close of St. Tudno's life was spent at the Her- 

 mitage, which, after his demise, was erected into a church 

 named after him, and a grant of land by way of endow- 

 ment made over to it bj' Malgon, King of Britain and 

 Prince of Wales, who at the same time elevated the 



monastery of Bangor on the Menai into an episcopal see. 

 Edward 1st attached the manor of St. Tudno to the 

 Bishopric of Bangor. It was usual with the British mis- 

 Monaries and recluses to select for their retreat and 

 school some spot hallowed in the popular estimation by 

 its prior associations with Druidism ; many tenets of 

 which were incorporated by them, as the writings of 

 Taliesin abundantly evince," into their system of Chris- 

 tianity. St. Tudno selected the precipitous eminence now 

 known as the Great St. Orme's Head, on which the 

 sacred fire, after being borne across the Menai from 

 Anglese}% was first exhibited on the vernal festival of 

 1st May; and from Avhich, by the enactments of the 

 Druidic religion, every family in the kingdom was 

 obliged to re-kindle its hearth-stone or domestic tire, ex- 

 tinguished under the operation of the same laws the 

 preceding night. The usage was in full force in Bre- 

 tagne in the 11th century, and probably supplied William 

 the Conqueror with the first notion of the 'Couvrt>-feu* 

 regulation. The Druidic monument by which St. Tudno 

 was accustomed to take his stand and address the con- 

 course that flocked to his preaching remains pretty much 

 in its original condition. Being ' a Logan,' an oscillating 

 or rocking stone, the peasantry have named it Cryd 

 Tudno, ' Tudno's Cradle.' "] 



Uthwait Family. — Can you inform me what 

 are the armorial bearings of the family of Uth- 

 wait, of Great Linford, co. Bucks ? They appear 

 to have come into possession of the estate about 

 the commencement of last century, in accordance 

 with the will of a relative. Sir William Pritchard, 

 an Alderman of London. Where was this family 

 settled previously ? Is Uthwait the same name as 

 Huthwaite, only differently spelt ? E. H. A. 



[The name is spelt Uthwatt by Lipscomb (Bucks, 

 vol. iv. p. 222.), who states that Sir William Pritchard 

 bequeathed the manor, after his lady's decease, to his two 

 nephew.s, Richard Uthwatt and Daniel King, Esqs. Ri- 

 chard Uthwatt having purchased Daniel King's interest, 

 died possessed thereof in 1719; audit descended to his 

 eldest son and heir, Thomas Uthwatt, Esq , who held the 

 same in 1742; and dying in 1754, left an only daughter, 

 Catharine, who was married to Matthew Knapp, Esq., of 

 Little Linford. Henr3' Uthwatt, Esq., of Great Linford, 

 having married the daughter of Sir -John Chester, Bart, 

 of Chicheley, and having no issue, bequeathed this 

 estate, after the decease of his wife, to his godson and re- 

 lation, Henr}' Uthwatt Andrewes, Esq., who thereupon 

 took the surname, of Uthwatt only. Arms : Quarterly; 

 1. Az. a lion ramp. arg. 2. Arg. a bend S. cotized 

 charged with three mullets of the first; between two 

 cotizes. 3 as 2. . 4. as 1.: impaling party per fe.ss arg. 

 and S. a chev. S. and arg. between three rams' beads 

 erased, counter changed, armed Or.] 



" Gradus ad Purnassum." — Can any of your 

 correspondents furnish me with the date and place 

 of printing of the first edition of the Gradus ad 

 Parnassum ; if he can add the compiler's name so 

 much the better. I have seen the book many 

 years since in London, but do not know into whose 

 hands it may now have fallen. It is a thick well 

 printed quarto volume. Ovtis. 



[The author of Gradus ad Pnrnnssum was Paul Aler, a 

 learned French Jesuit, born in 1656 at St. Guy in the Lux- 

 emburgh. He was professor of philosophy, theology, and 



