94 



RELICS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 



master of the ceremonies held balls al fresco in the woods by 

 moonlight, notwithstanding Judge Boguet, the Parliament of 

 Rouen, and all the troopers that could be mustered. The great 

 Prince of Conde himself visited a witch : and one of the fairest 

 ladies of Louis the Fourteenth's com-t w^as suspected of keeping a 

 famihar imp, because she allowed her dog to sit at table with her. 

 Let us not be surprised, therefore, if witchcraft had its behevers 

 only a few years ago in the remoter parts of this island, and if 

 there are still some persons who exercise that magic which, as an 

 eminent Frenchwoman once said when tried for sorcery, is the 

 power of great minds over less. 



There is in the county of Cardigan, South Wales, a parish call- 

 ed Llanbadarn Fawr, of great note among antiquaries. Llan, 

 when added to the name of a saint, implies a place of worship, 

 and the Padarn, or patron-saint, of this parish wore a gigantic 

 coat of mail, which may be still seen in the catalogue of princely 

 rarities kept at Caerlyon. Within the last thirty years the coun- 

 try resembled an open field, on which any man might keep what 

 number of sheep he pleased ; and wild horses and wild cattle ran 

 out all the winter in common. The people, simple, hardy and 

 active, retained some customs very friendly to early marriages and 

 good neighbourhood. According to one of these customs, the 

 bailiff of the little manor of Rhydonnen came at the dawn of 

 Easter Monday to an ancient chapel, where the young v/omen and 

 old champions had been seated all night, to see fair play among 

 the wrestlers assembled there by long established privilege. There, 

 having rung his bell three times, the bailiff announced, in a loud 

 voice, the intended marriage of David Gwynne and Lillian Morri- 

 son the following Saturday. Much elevation of noses and expan- 

 sion of mouths happened among the swains and spinsters ; and 

 after the usual debate on the betrothed parties' choice, the unmar- 

 ried part of the assembly adjourned, as such occasions required, to 

 the nearest inn's parlour, where a blank book was opened for sub- 

 scriptions. An ancient and bountiful Welch custom directs that 

 the friends and neighbours of persons approaching the holy state 

 shall furnish their tenement with the most useful articles of furni- 

 ture and of bridal festivity ; each giver placing his name or mark 

 opposite the name of his gift, in a book already mentioned, which 

 is duly kept by the wedded pair, that an article of the same kind, 

 or equal value, may be given at his or her marriage. The bene- 



