OP THE WELSH. 287 



iatives are indigent, they do not often exceed three 

 or four Ihillings. In cafes where families are left in 

 diflrefs, this money is ufually given by the clergy- 

 man to them. When the colledion is entirely 

 finifhed, the body is taken to the grave, the re- 

 mainder of the burial-fervice is read, and the awful 

 ceremony is there clofed. — The offerings at Llan- 

 bubUc, the parifli church of Caernarvon, fometimes 

 amount to fifty or fixty pounds a year. 



It is ufual in feveral parts of North Wales, for 

 the neareft female relation to the deceafed, be fhe 

 widow, mother, filler, or daughter, to pay fome poor 

 perfon, of the fame fex, and nearly of the fame age 

 with the deceafed, for procuring flips of yew, box, 

 and other evergreens, to flrew over and ornament 

 the grave for fome weeks after interment ; and in 

 fome inftances for weeding and adorning it, on the 

 eves of Ealler, Whitfuntide, and the other great 

 feflivals, for a year or two aftei wards. This gift is 

 called Diodlys, and it is made on a plate at the door 

 of the houfe, where at the fame time the body is 

 (landing on a bier. It had its name from the cuflom, 

 which is now difcontinued, of the female relative 

 giving to the perfon a piece of cheefe with the money 

 fluck in it, fome white bread, and afterwards a cup 

 of ale. — When this previous ceremony is over, the 

 clergyman, or, in his abfence, the parifh clerk, re- 

 peats 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 flioulders j a cuflom 



which 



