RELICS OF POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 



95 



fits of this reciprocal benevolence need no comment, and the hon- 

 est-group collected at the sign of St. Gurig on the day which be- 

 gins my story seemed well disposed to exemplify it. But as Da- 

 vid Gwynne had a farm of £10 per annum, which fed two hun- 

 dred sheep, and Lillian's father was supposed to possess a rich 

 mine of lead ore in his own right, the gifts on this occasion were 

 rather tokens of good will and intended revelry than mere house- 

 hold equipage. Not a maiden or youth was present whose emu- 

 lation or friendship did not induce him or her to subscribe the 

 book, except one, who stood mournfully and in silence among the 

 crowd. This idle spectator was the betrothed bride's cousin, 

 Idwal ap Morris, a youth about her own age, and much resembling 

 her in beaut}^, though his intellects were far inferior, and had been 

 impaired, it was thought, by too long and disappointed dotage on 

 his uncle's daughter. As he had some money, and might inherit 

 more, the damsels of Llanbadarn wondered at his failure, and_ 

 saw no great deficiency in his merits. They gathered round him 

 with a mixture of sly mahce and curiosity, to ask why he did not 

 subscribe his name to a new tea-kettle and set of china, which 

 were wanted to complete his kinswoman's equipment. The par- 

 ish-clerk promised to provide him with a doleful elegy to send 

 with it; and the schoolmaster added, laughing, "Let him, as 

 Theocritus saith, ofl[er another calf to love." Idwal heard these 

 taunts without smile or words, but on the eve of the bridal day 

 he was seen on the high road, from Aberdovey to Cardigan, lead- 

 ing a fatted calf with great care and speed. ISTow Fortune, wil- 

 ling to verify the maxim that weddings and burials are near each 

 other, or being bountifully disposed to gratify the good people of 

 Llanbadarn with both, brought at the same hour a magnificent 

 hearse on that road. The most pompous and solemn part of its 

 oflBce was already done, and it was returning, with only one attend- 

 ant, through a narrow defile in this mountainous tract, when it 

 encountered the Welch Cymon and his companion. These, being 

 jealous of their importance, insisted on precedence, and the driver 

 of the black vehicle declared it waited for no man's bidding. The 

 dispute was referred to the usual mode of Cambrian arbitration, a 

 wrestling-match, for which the hearse-driver alighted, and Idwal 

 opened its door, prudently intending to deposit his calf within it 

 as a place of safety. But at that instant another hand seized the 

 hearse-door from within, and a skeleton face resembling him who 



