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 ro- 
mantic. 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 Visitutions of Wales, pub- 
lished 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 ereated 
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 Shén Catti, referred to at No. 24. p. 383., was 
a Welshman who flourished between the years 
1590 and 1630. Hewas 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 war- 
rant 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 frolie — for he was a very Eulenspiegel 
—made him the darling of the people. “His chosen 
dwelltng-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-flin, in the 
vale of T'ywi; 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 for 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 8yo. volume, 
which was probably the work to which the “Note” 
of “ Mrexanion” referred. SELEvcus. 
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 scen 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 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[No. 28. 
more frequently by one person. A handbill of the 
time of William the Third states, ‘In Barthglo- 
mew 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 ex- 
tant, but query if it is not Penkethman?), repre- 
senting him dancing the Cheshire Round, with the 
motto “ Ne sutor ultra crepidam.” 
Epwarp F. Rimpavrr. 
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 and 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. 
J.E. 
Oxford, April 16. 1850. 
Horns. — For answer to the third Query of 
“L.C.” (No. 24. p. 383.), I subscribe the follow- 
ing, from Coleridge :— 
“ Having quoted the passage from Shakspeare, 
«© Take thou no scorn 
To wear the horn, the lusty horn ; 
It was a crest ere thou wert born,’ 
As You Like It, Act iv. se. 2. 
I question (he says), whether there exists a parallel 
instance ef a phrase, that, hike this of “ Horns,” is 
universal in all languages, and yet for which no one 
has discovered even a plausible origin.” — Literary Re- 
mains, vol,i. p. 120, Pickering, 1849. 
Rozert Snow. 
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 follow- 
ing 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 1762. It was written evidently by some 
f 
a sy 
