1825.] 
only proofs of their vindictive enmity 
towards the English, and all traces of 
their fierce, hostility are. wiped. away. 
They are, yet, indeed, for the most part 
—I speak of the peasantry in the re- 
moter districts of North Wales—a rude 
and unpolished people; but their con- 
tumacious turbulence is softened down 
and transformed into hospitality, and 
kind, but rugged,. courtesy. But they 
have not. forgotten the martial deeds 
and valiant exploits of their forefathers, 
the narration of which, even now, serves 
te while away the winter’s evening in 
the peasant’s cottage. . 
“ Such themes’ inspire the border-shep- . 
herd’s tale, 
When in the gray thatch sounds the fitful 
e, 
And constant wheels go round with whirl- 
ing din, 
As by red ember-light the damsels spin. 
Each chaunts, by turns, the song his soul 
approves, ' 
Or bears the burthen to the maid he loves. 
* Still to the surly strain of martial deeds, 
In“ cadence soft the song of love succeeds ; 
With tales of ghosts that haunt unhallow’d 
ground: | 
While narrowing still the circle closes 
round ; ; 
Til, oat pale, from nameless cause of 
_ fear, 
Each peasant starts, his neighbour’s voice 
to hear.” 
Like all other border-towns of any 
magnitude, Oswestry was defended by 
a castle; it was also fortified by four 
gates and a wall: three of these gates 
are yet standing—the fourth, with the 
wall, is destroyed. According to the 
Welch historians, the castle was found- 
ed. in 1148, by Meredith ap Bleddyns, 
Prince of Powis; but the English attri- 
bute its erection to Alan, a noble Nor- 
man, who came over with William the 
Congueror, It was a fortress of great 
strength and extent, and had its dai- 
ium, or yard, comprehending that part 
of the town now called the Bailey-head ; 
its barbican, or outer gate, where the 
poor and maimed were usually relieved ; 
L0¢ be chapel, placed ‘at a short dis- 
tance from the main entrance, and dedi- 
eated to St. Nicholas. A curious fact, 
connected with the early history of this 
castle, illustrates the rude barbarism of 
_ the times in rather a forcible manner. 
In the year 1214, a complaint was made 
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, by a 
Welch chieftain, against the constable 
of Oswestry castle, for compelling him 
apie to death. two young noblemen, 
n derogation of their high birth and 
Excursion through North Wales. 
131 
lineage ; which disgrace, observes the 
Welchman, their parents would not 
have undergone for three hundred pounds 
sterling! He complains, also, that the 
said constable, a, despotic worthy im his 
way, had twice imprisoned sixty of shis 
men, extorting from each a mark for his 
liberty. 
Altogether, there are few, places. in 
or near Wales more interesting, in a 
retrospective point of view, than Os- 
westry. The associations connected 
with it are, it is true, deeply imbued 
with bleod and slaughter; but its his- 
tory. would afford a faithful portrait, 
horrid and sanguinary though it be, of 
the state of Wales before its union and 
perfect incorporation with England. 
Even its. very name arose from the 
ashes of a slaughtered prince. In the 
year 642, a battle was fought near the 
town (then called Meserfield) by Os- 
wald, the brave and generous king of 
Northumberland, and Penda, the fero- 
cious monarch of Mercia— Oswald was 
defeated, and fell in the field of battle ; 
and Penda, with the blood-thirsty bar- 
barity of the age, fixed his mangled 
limbs on stakes* as so many trophies 
of his victory. 
“ Cujus et abscissum caput abscissosque 
lacertos 
Et tribus affixos palis pendere cruentos 
Pendg, jubet: per quod reliquis exempta 
relinquat, 
Terrores manifesta sui, regemque beatum 
Esse probet miserum; sed causam fallit 
utramque, 
Ultor enim fratris minime timet Oswin- 
sillum, 
Immo timere facit, nec rex miser, immo 
beatus 
Est, qui fonte boni fruitur semel et’ sine 
fine.” 
Thus the place was called Tre Oswald, 
or Oswald’s Town, and, subsequently, 
Oswestry. 
As I have several times alluded to 
the Marches of Wales, an outline of 
their origin may not be unacceptable to 
the reader. After William the Nor- 
man had subdued the Saxons, being 
well aware of the difficulty of subjugat- 
ing the Britons in like manner, he gave 
to several Norman lords as much land 
on 
* In No. 1,981 of the Harleian MSS. 
in the British ‘Museum, is the following 
note :—‘* There was an old oake. lately 
standing in Mzsbufie, within the parish of 
Oswestrie, whereon one of King Oswald’s 
armes hung, say the neighbonra, by, tra- 
dition,”’ ' 
§ 2 
