repository of Welsh learning, the Myfyrian Archaiology of Wales; a small volume of Triads was published separately in the year 1819. Some of the Druidical Triads are given in the Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1794), with an English translation by a Mr. Samuel. Thomas Jones, of Tregaron, alias "Twm Shon Catti," is reported to be the collector and preserver of our national Triads. Perhaps some of your lady readers and correspondents will be glad to know that some scores of Triads are called "Trioedd y Gwragedd," &c., and at the end of "Trioedd y Wraig dda" (the Good Wife) may be seen the following note :"A'r wraig a fyddo fel hyn a gerir gan ei gwr, a'i theulu, a chan bawb a'i hadnapo, a chan Dduw ; a gwyn ei fyd y gwr a'i medd. Er hyny, rhyw wraig a gâr myned lle myno, a chael ored ar a weto, a chaffael a geisio, a gwneuthur fel a chwennycho, gwareded Duw bob dyn rhag hono, a rhy aml y gwelir y cyfryw wragedd. Ac felly y terfyna." Llangynwyd. T. C. EVANS. ANN OF SWANSEA (viii.-199, 304; x.-565; xi.—190).—Is not Mr. G. H. Brierley mistaken in saying the above mentioned nom de plume was borne by Mrs. Curtis? I have always been under the impression that a Mrs. Hatton was "Ann of Swansea," and that she was the author of several novels (Cambrian Pictures amongst the rest, a novel that excited the ire of Swansea country people, for it was said to contain sketches of character drawn from real life). I had the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Horace Twiss very well some years ago, when I resided at Richmond, in Surrey. Her husband's mother was a sister of Mrs. Siddons. He was a well-known Q.C., and represented Bridport (I think) for some years. He left one son, the present Mr. Quintin Twiss, who has inherited all the Kemble love of and talent for the stage, though he only acts in amateur theatricals. He holds a Government appointment. Mrs. Horace Twiss, in consequence of her husband's mother having been a Kemble, knew all the leading people on the stage, as well as some of the best known characters, literary and artistic, in London society. It was at her house I met the few celebrities I have ever had the pleasure of seeing in private life-the late Charles Kean and his talented wife, Piccolomini, and others. Mrs. Horace Twiss was herself a most brilliant pianiste, and a very clever woman. I have accompanied her to the opera on the first night of a performance, and have known her come home, sit down to the instrument, and play over from memory any air that had caught her fancy. Berry Grove, Liss, Hants. HELEN WATNEY. MATHEW OF ARADYR (ix.—196).—The continuation of the pedigree of Mathew of Aradyr, so clearly given by your correspondent Mr. W. Gwynne Stedman Thomas, the well-known and highly esteemed Carmarthen genealogist, is as follows: First, General Sir William Mathew, whom a Chancery Post Mortem Inquisition declares to have been the son and heir of Thomas Mathew, not the second son, as stated by one antiquarian friend, to whose account of Sir William we add the following points:-1. It was he who restored the old Castle or Episcopal Palace of Llandaff, which had been partly destroyed by Glyndwr, and which was again shattered in 1646 by the Cromwellian soldiers. 2. The beautiful altar tomb, which is one of the gems of Llandaff Cathedral, and which represents in fine lifesized effigies the knight and his lady, was wrought by the hand of the celebrated Italian sculptor Cellini, during the life-time and under the inspection of Sir William himself. It was transmitted to Wales in distinct blocks, and a pupil of Cellini's, who superintended its setting up, afterwards enriched the seven escutcheons and the arches of the tabernacles with Spanish emblazonry, no trace of which, however now remains. Sir William's only son, Sir George Mathew, the third of the line of Radyr, was J.P. for the Co. of Glamorgan in 1542, high sheriff for the same county in 1545, and represented it in Parliament in 1547. In 1548 we find the muster roll of the able men of the Hundred of Llantrissant called in review before him, and he was knighted upon the accession of Queen Mary in 1553. Sir George revived some of the privileges of the old Marcher Lordship held by his family three hundred years before, and obtained confirmation of the same from the bishops, to himself and his heirs for ever. He married, first, the daughter of Sir William Herbert, Knt., of Colbrook, by whom he had four daughters. He m. secondly Barbara, daughter of Sir Robert Brett, by whom he had four daughters and six sons. He died Nov. 14, 1558. A Chancery Inquisition Post Mortem for enquiry into his Crown lands was issued April 5, 1559. His eldest son and heir, called by courtesy Sir William Mathew, but who, in State papers, is simply designated "Knight of the Shire," early in life became interested in the smelting and casting of iron, in which some experiments had been made by his father's cousin, Miles Mathew, as early as 1548. Before he attained his majority (1552) William had projected and set in operation the first iron furnaces in the Vale of Taff. He was twice high sheriff of Co. Glamorgan, in 1567 and in 1579; also for ten years Special Commissioner under the Privy Seal. His letters, several of which are preserved among the State papers, are written in a learned, judicial style, not without eloquence. They evince a high integrity. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir George Herbert, of Swansea, her mother being Dame Elizabeth, of the noble house of Berkeley. By this lady he had six daughters. He died September, 1587, and was succeeded in Radyr Court by his next brother, Henry, who also failing of issue male, the representation of the Radyr line became vested in Edmund Mathew (4), said to have been an M.D. in practice in the City of Bristol, where he married Jane, daughter of Bartholomew Skerne, Abbi Castillion of Lincolnshire. The Visitation of Somersetshire for 1623 shows that the widow of Barth. Skerne ("Relicta Skerne ") married Sir Mathew Smith, of Long Ashton Park, Bristol. Their son, Sir Hugh Smith, married Elizabeth Georges, which lady, after the death of Sir Hugh, became the wife of her kinsman, Sir Fernando Georges, a renowned knight of the period, allied to the family of Berkeley of Portbury. The will of Lady Jane Smith, dated July 5, 1589, mentions her daughter Jane, wife of Edmund Mathew, and their daughter Jane. Edmund became heir of Radyr, Llandaff, and other estates, Principally Chieferies," says Playfair; also heir of the iron furnaces in the Vale of Taff, then under the management of two brothers named Lewis. The furnaces were suppressed in 1602, because their position or neighbourhood afforded facilities for the shipment of ordnance to Spain. 66 Edmund had, by Jane Skerne, four sons and four daughters. One of the latter, Ann, married Anthony Powell, of Llwydiarth, some of whose MS. works were in the library of Thomastown Castle. Edmund was high sheriff, Co. Glamorgan, in 1593, and died 1660, at the age of one hundred and two years. His sons were (1) George, (2) Anthony died an infant, (3) Edmund, (4) William. George was a captain in the army, his company being stationed at Cashel, Ireland, in 1615. In 1619 his kinsman, Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, who resided at Thomastown, five miles from Cashel, was drowned during a voyage from England. Captain George Mathew conveyed the painful intelligence to his countess, who was also connected by marriage with the Mathews. At this period the fortunes of the Ormond family were at their lowest ebb; Walter, the eleventh earl, being a prisoner in the Tower, their estates bestowed upon Lord Desmond; and the widowed countess and her five young children dependent upon her father, Sir J. Pointz. In 1620 George Mathew married Lady Thurles, and they returned with all the children to Thomastown Castle. James, the eldest, then only eleven years of age, afterwards became the virtuous and noble first Duke of Ormond; Captain George, who died 1636, had by Lady Thurles two sons and two daughters. The line of their eldest son, Theobald, progenitor of the Earls of Llandaff, is correctly given by Burke down to its extinction in 1833. Edmund, second son of Edmund of Radyr, was, during the wars in Ireland, governor of the garrison in Green Castle in 1644. Newry and Narrow Water were also placed under his able command. Many letters to and from Edmund Mathew are preserved among the State papers, also among the Ormond MS. at Kilkenny Castle. He died, a colonel in the army, unmarried, in 1653. As George, eldest son of Edmund Mathew of Radyr, became the founder of another branch of the family-usually designated the Irish branch-we continue the line of Radyr as being vested in William, the third son of Edmund of Radyr. William Mathew (5), of Great House, Whitchurch, was Mayor of Cardiff in 1644, and succeeded Sir Anthony Mansell as governor of the garrison in Cardiff Castle for King Charles I. William married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Powel, of Llwydiarth, and had issue two sons and three daughters. His will, proved February 10th, 1668, names his two sons, Anthony, of Splott Manor, Roath, and Thomas. In 1623 Captain Anthony Mathew was Lieutenant to Sir Gerrard Herbert, and commanded his company at the taking of Heidelberg, where Sir Gerrard was slain, and Mathew shot through the shoulder. Mathew brought home the officers and company at his own great charge. Two petitions of the space of four years apart beg that Lieutenant-Colonel Mathew may be repaid these expenses. In 1642-48 his name frequently appears on the Royalist side. He married the daughter of Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Ruperra, "a fine seat." His will was proved 1701. His line is said to have failed in his grandson, John. The representation of Radyr thus became vested in his next brother, Thomas (6). Captain Thomas Mathew, of Fairwater, Llandaff, served under Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's, his kinsman, with Prince Rupert. At the siege of Bristol, 1645, he was wounded and made a prisoner in Bristol Castle, whence, with the aid of his wife, he made a romantic escape. In 1648 he was in the battle of St. Fagan's again taken prisoner, and was one of the eleven officers sent on board the ship "Admiral Crowther," and condemned to die. Three were at once shot, but Captain Thomas Mathew and four others-by composition with the sergeant in charge, when a large sum of money changed hands-were set on shore at midnight. Horses awaiting them there, they made straight for Pembroke Castle; and upon its surrender, two months later, were again taken prisoners, and Captain Thomas (now Major), with sixteen other officers, were banished the kingdom, not to return for two years. Thomas married three times. Two of his sons fell in the civil wars. Anthony, the son of his third wife (who was a cousin to Admiral Thomas Mathew), survived him. The will of Thomas was proved 13th July, 1710. Anthony Mathew (7), of Fairwater and Lecquith, married Mary, daughter of William James, and had four daughters and five sons, whom he names in his will, proved February 18th, 1741-(1) William, (2) Thomas, (3) Anthony, (4) John, (5) Edward. (1) William Mathew (8), gentleman, resided for sixty years at the ancient Manor House, Cogan Pill, where he several times entertained for days or weeks his kinsman, Earl Llandaff. A certain marriage of a Catholic with a Protestant having at this juncture been declared illegal, laid one section of the Irish branch under a bar, and William Mathew and his descendants were thereupon recognised as the possible heirs to the Earls Llandaff. William married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. William Williams, rector of Penarth, and had issue three sons and three daughters. Of the latter, Jane married David Hopkin, and is now represented by the Rev. J. W. Hopkin, vicar of Aghun, County Cork, and his son Francis Gethin. William died 1803, aged 91. mural tablet is in Penarth Church. His At the death of Earl Francis Mathew, at the Mackworth Arms, Swansea (1806), the two sons of William Mathew, of Cogan, with their eldest sons, and also Williams, eldest nephew of Anthony Mathew, barrister-at-law, were summoned to attend the funeral as next of kin. The sons of William Mathew, of Cogan, were (1) Blethyn, (2) Anthony, (3) William. Of these Anthony died young; William married Catherine, daughter of Edward Hazard, and had (1) Edward, died unmarried; (2) William, m., and had seven sons and three daughters; (3) Mathew, m., and had three sons and four daughters; (4) Joseph, had five sons and one daughter. Blethyn (9), the eldest son of William of Cogan Pill, m. Mary, daughter of Edward Jacob, and had (1) William, (2) Anthony, (3) Elizabeth Ann, (4) Eleanor. Blethyn's will, proved Feb. 5, 1811, names each one. William (1) m. his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of William John, but had no issue. His will was proved 9th January, 1840. (2) Anthony (10) married Elizabeth, daughter of William Phillips, and had issue six daughters and three sons. Anthony died intestate three weeks after the death of his elder brother William, leaving eight orphaned children, their mother having died a few years previously. Of the three sons, Walter (1) went to America, and died unmarried, 1860; Anthony (2) died an infant; Anthony (3), Jacob (11) married, 1852, Mary, daughter of William Roberts, and has issue Edward Andrew (1), Walter (2), who died unmarried; William Anthony (3), John Bleddyn (4), and one daughter. Edward Andrew Mathew, twelfth of the line of Radyr, married and has issue Walter Gwaithvoed (1) and William John (2). The foregoing has been submitted to and carefully examined by Mr. G. T. Clark, F.S.A., of Dowlais, and also to Mr. W. G. Stedman Thomas, Carmarthen, both of whom have signified their approval of the tracing and their intention of adopting it in future genealogical publications. Swansea MORVETH MATHEW DE RADYR. MRS. SIDDONS (ix.—584; x.—565 ; xi.—90).—The other day, whilst scanning an old number of the defunct Oracle, I stumbled across the following, which seems to be just the answer to the query at the second reference :-" On the opening of the new Covent Garden Theatre, 11th September, 1809, Mrs. Siddons appeared as 'Lady Macbeth,' but, in consequence of the O. P. riots, did not appear again until 24th of April, 1810. In the following season she repeated all her principal characters; and on the 29th June, 1812, retired altogether from the stage, in the part of Lady Macbeth,' her greatest effort, reciting on the occasion a poetical address written by Mr. Horace Twiss, her nephew. After her retirement she gave a course of public readings from Shakspeare at the Argyll Rooms, to which afterwards she added public readings from Milton's 'Paradise Lost.' Between 1812 and 1819 she likewise appeared on two or three occasions; but a new style of acting had then set in, which rendered her further appearances inexpedient. Her death took place on the 8th of June, 1831, at Upper Baker Street, London ; and she was buried in a vault at St. Mary's, Paddington. It is said that the following lines in praise of this great actress bear no trace of exaggeration Cardiff. "Mistress of each soft art, with matchless skill : GEO. H. BRIERLEY. THE "GOLDEN FARMER" (x.-565; xi.-89).-Among other exploits, this farmer-highwayman robbed the Duchess of Albemarle, having to fight and subdue her grace's two footmen, the coachman, and a postillion before he could reach her carriage. In Johnson's Lives of Highwaymen several of Davies's exploits are narrated, and we are told that "many a hue and cry was sent after him, and conspired to his overthrow. He was seized, imprisoned, tried, and condemned. A violent death terminated his wicked course.' Gloucester. H.B. WILLIAM MYDDLETON (x.-565). The reason for the consignment of Wm. Myddleton, High Sheriff of Denbigh, to Newgate, I thought was well-known. He returned John Myddleton, of Chirk Castle (his brother, we believe), for the county in the place of the duly elected Knight, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. On the 23rd February, 1741, it was resolved by the House of Commons, after full hearing, that Sir Watkin and not Mr. John should have been returned: and further that William Myddleton "having taken upon himself to return John Myddleton contrary to the majority of votes received by him upon the poll, and to his own declaration of the numbers at the close of the poll, without any publick subsequent examination into the rights of the voters previous to such return; and having afterwards presumed to alter the said poll, in order to give a colour to such return, has acted partially, arbitrarily, and illegally, in defiance of the laws, in manifest violation of the rights of the freeholders of the said county, and in breach of the privilege of this House." This resolve was followed by an order committing the sheriff to Newgate, and an address to the King praying his removal from the offices of Receiver-General of the Land Revenue in North Wales, and Justice of the Peace for Denbigh and for Flint. Leave reserved to John Myddleton to petition the House does not seem to have been put in use. It is noticeable that Sir Watkin was at the time of his complaint against the returning officer sitting in the House for the county of Montgomery. Cardiff. GEO. H. BRIERLEY. DRACONIGENÆ. The Jubilee year of Her Majesty's Reign is thus celebrated in a poem specially written for the National Magazine of Wales by "Nathan Dyfed," the veteran bard and eisteddfodwr : "IWBILI." Haner canfed flwydd teyrnasiad ein Grasusaf Frenhines Victoria I. Hawddammor Fanon "Prydain Fawr," Hwn yw y dydd, a hon yw'r awr I ddathlu gwyl ein "Buddug" fawr,— Cyd awried dwy "Ganada". Ynysoedd "Polynesia Nes lleddfu lli 'r "Niag'ra," Ein gweddi aed ar lafar, Dros hyd a lled y ddaear, Am nawdd yr Ion i'w Baniar, Tra'r aig i" Brydain Fawr" yn fur, Tra llifo gwaed y Cymro'n bur, Teyngarwch fyn wefreiddio'i fron ; Fel tynfa 'r Celitem i'r Go-gledd, Cyfeiria Gwalia at ei sêdd, Merthyr Tydfil, I ffyddlawn ddiffyn Breiniau hon; A chonglau'r Byd didraul; Dros dud na fechlyd Haul, NATHAN DYFED, Bencerdd. "As the cow and the acres," said the Pall Mall Gazette recently, are certain to re-appear as soon as Parliament opens, if not in some of the pre-parliamentary speeches, it may not be unseason able to re-open the question as to their rightful patentee. It was a Bishop, and a Welsh Bishop, who anticipated the eminent Liberationist Mr. Jesse Collings. Bishop Richard Watson said, immediately after the last Royal Jubilee, in 1809: "What if legal liberty were given to every man in the kingdom to build a cottage and to enclose as far as five acres for a garden and the 1 |