Dec. 22. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



483 



LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1855. 



FOLK LORE IN MONMOUTHSHIRE. 



In one of tho earlier numbers of " N. & Q."_ I 

 recollect, though I cannot at present refer to it, 

 an inquiry respecting a publication containing an 

 account of the parish of Aberystruth in the above 

 county. A mutilated copy of it has fallen in my 

 way ; and for the satisfaction of the inquirer, and 

 of such readers as take an interest in folk lore, I 

 venture to offer a notice of this singular perform- 

 ance, and an extract of some of that part of it 

 which relates to the apparitions and fairies of that 

 country. Whatever may be now the case, they 

 had held there ancient domain in hill and dale, by 

 grove and fountain, from the earliest times to 

 those of the writer, among the natives of Mon- 

 mouthshire ; which, though severed from Wales 

 by act of parliament, remained united to it in 

 popular feeling, and continues such in many re- 

 spects to this day. The same may be said of the 

 whole of the principality. Omens, witches, ap- 

 paritions, and fairies have, however, at no period, 

 found a more zealous advocate than the author of 

 this treatise ; and the serious and conscientious 

 manner in which, after the school of Baxter and 

 Cotton Mather, he supports his reasonings In their 

 behalf by proofs from Scripture, shows how deeply 

 the belief of all ti'adltlons and relations of this 

 kind had taken root in his confiding mind ; and 

 how honestly he endeavoured to employ what he 

 himself believed. In the refutation of infidelity, 

 and confirmation of religion among his own coun- 

 trymen : for he appears to have been as generous 

 a lover of his country as ever breathed her moun- 

 tain air. 



The title of the work, an octavo pamphlet of 

 160 pages, is this : 



" A Geographical, Historical, and Religious Account of 

 the Parish of Aberystruth, in the Count}' of Monmouth. 

 To wliich are added. Memoirs of several Persons of Note, 

 ■who lived in the said Parish. By Edmund Jones. Tre- 

 vecka: printed in the Year 1779." 



Edmund Jones, according to his own statement, 

 was born at Pen-yr-Llwyn, in the Valley of the 

 Church, in the parish of Aberystruth ; and from 

 hints that he has given of himself, appears, at the 

 time of his authorship, to have been about seventy- 

 one years of age. He was an Independent preacher. 

 In religious views a MUlenarian, inclined to Cal- 

 vinism, and no friend to Wesley or the Romanists. 

 His style is strikingly national, characterised by 

 extreme simplicity of thought and expression ; 

 presenting a graphic portrait of a mind piously 

 disposed, but Imbued with a credulity unbounded ; 

 and arguing with as much earnestness in favour 

 of supernatural agencies and appearances as blind- 

 No. 321.] 



ness in being able to discern, what may be ob- 

 vious enough to most of his readers, that his rela- 

 tions frequently make much less for him than 

 against him. 



In the Preface (p. vi.) he gives this explanation 

 of the origin of his attempt at parochlnl history, 

 and a defence of the marvellous portion of it : 



" I remember, long time, seeing a letter in the Gentle- 

 tleman's Magazine, in April, 1755, from a gentleman who 

 desired such accounts from parishes as I have given of 

 the parish of Aberystruth. If this gentleman is now 

 alive, he would be glad to read this account, especially as 

 I can tell him that his letter did in some measure in- 

 fluence me to write it. 



" But I am aware of it, if this book comes into the 

 hands of gross unbelievers, the account of apparitions 

 contained in it will be matter of ridicule to them ; who, 

 from a certain kind of pride, affectedly run down accounts 

 of apparitions. But is it not an unreasonable kind of 

 unbelief, which belies the testimony and experienee of 

 millions of men in the world — and, it may be in Wales, 

 from the first to the last ? Most of them under no temp- 

 tation to deceive with false stories of this nature. Be- 

 sides, those spirits more properly belong to eternity ; yet 

 they are also, in some measure, the subjects of God's pro- 

 vidence, which governs the world. Providence hath a 

 two -fold concern with them. On one hand tolerating 

 their appearance and agency in some measure, and on 

 the other hand in restraining and limiting tlieir appear- 

 ances and evil agencies. These spirits also have a con- 

 cern with mankind more than being fellow-creatures in 

 the creation; with the wicked, who surely are in al- 

 liance with hell, and under Satan's government — who is 

 the God of this world (Eph. ii. 2.). With the people of 

 God they are concem'd as enemies, and in respect of 

 them he is more properly called the Enemy." 



His division of the work into chapters is as 

 follows : 

 " 1. Of the Name of the Parish. 



2. Of its Boundaries and Limits. 



3. Of its Measure and Extent. 



4. Of the Parts, Form, and Surface of its Grounds, and 



Mountains, and Valleys. 



5. Of the Rivers, Rivulets, and Waters. 



6. The Natural Curiosities and Remarkable Things in 



the Mountains, Valleys, and Waters. 



7. Of the Air. 



8. Of the Soil and Product of the Earth, Internal and 



External. 



9. Inferences and several Moral Instructions deduced 



therefrom. 



10. Of the Building, Ordinaiy and Extraordinary. 



11. Of the Pleasant Places in the Parish. 



12. Of the Population and Inhabitants. 



13. Of Five Remarkable and Extraordinary Things that 



came to pass in the Parish. , 



14. Of Apparitions and Agencies of the Fairies, &c. 



15. Of Religion in Times Past and Present. 



Lastly, Memoirs of Religious Persons of some Note 

 of both Sexes." 



These memoirs are very brief, and somewhat 

 after the manner of Melchlor Adamus, the biogra- 

 pher of the reformed divines of Germany ; but they 

 contain touches of very effective naivete. The 

 chapter which concerns folk lore is, however, per- 

 haps the most curious of the whole production, 

 and sorry I am that it cannot be given entire. 



