220 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



particulars, and without consulting the stars, pretends to know who they 

 are and what they come for. He is, however, generally not at home, and 

 his wife then treats them well, and holds them in conversation till he 

 returns, when he immediately gives them some particulars of the neigh- 

 bourhood they live in, and pretends to describe the person who stole the 

 goods and the house he lives in, etc., and endeavours to frighten the thief 

 by giving out that he will mark him so that everybody shall know him. 

 In some few cases this succeeds, the person, fearful of the great conjurer's 

 power, returns the goods, and the conjurer then gets great credit. In 

 other cases he manages to tell them something which they cannot tell 

 how he became aware of, and then, even if nothing more is heard of the 

 goods, he still keeps up his fame. Two cases have come under my own 

 observation, in which the parties have gone, in one case forty the other 

 sixty miles, to consult this man about some stolen money ; and though in 

 neither case was the desired end obtained, they were told so much about 

 themselves that they felt sure he must have obtained his knowledge by 

 supernatural means. They accordingly spread his name abroad as a 

 wonderful man, who knew a great deal more than other people. The 

 name of his house, " Cwrt y cadno," is very appropriate, as it means in 

 English " The Fox's Court." 



Besides these and numberless other instances of almost universal 

 belief in supernatural agency, their superstition as well as their ignorance 

 is further shown by their ascribing to our most harmless reptiles powers 

 of inflicting deadly injury. The toad, newt, lizard, and snake are, they 

 imagine, virulently poisonous, and they look on with horror, and will 

 hardly trust their eyes, should they see them handled with impunity. 

 The barking of dogs at night, hooting of owls, or any unusual noise, 

 dreams, etc., etc., are here, as in many parts of England, regarded as 

 dark omens of our future destiny, mysterious warnings sent to draw aside 

 the veil of futurity and reveal to us, though obscurely, impending danger, 

 disease or death. 



Reckoned by the usual standards on these subjects, the religion of 

 the lower orders of Welshmen may be said to be high in the scale, while 

 their morality is decidedly low. This may appear a contradiction to 

 some persons, but those who are at all acquainted with mankind well 

 know that, however luxuriantly religion in its outward forms and influence 

 on the tongue may flourish in an uncultivated soil, it is by no means 

 necessarily accompanied by an equal growth of morality. The former, 

 like the flower of the field, springs spontaneously, or with but Httle care ; 

 the latter, like the useful grain, only by laborious cultivation and the 

 careful eradication of useless or noxious weeds. 



If the number of chapels and prayer-meetings, the constant attendance 

 on them, and the fervour of the congregation can be accounted as signs 

 of religion, it is here. Besides the regular services on the Sabbath and 

 on other days, prayer meetings are held early in the morning and late at 

 night in different cottages by turns, where the uneducated agriculturist or 



