The annual meeting of the Cymmrodorion was held at the Library, Chancery Lane, on Thursday, Dec. 9, under the presidency of the Earl of Powis. The report for the year ending November, 1886, was read by Dr. Isambard Owen. It stated that seventy-one new members had been added to the list during the year. Frofessor Powel, of Cardiff, has been appointed corresponding member for South Wales, and Mr. R. M. Banks for North Wales. After careful revision of the list of members, the present numbers of the society are found to be four hundred and ninety-eight, exclusive of five honorary members. The report, after giving a résumé of the society's labours for the year, went on to say that the council had made arrangements to render the collection of Welsh and English books available to members as a lending library. The Bishop of Llandaff, Lord Penrhyn, Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Bart., and Alderman David Evans were appointed vice-presidents of the society.

We have pleasure in recording the success of Mr. W. G. John, of Cardiff, in the recent competition at the Royal Academy Schools. Mr. John obtained the first prize, the silver medal of the academy, for the model of a figure from the life, and the second prize, value £20, for a set of three models of a figure from the life. Mr. John originally studied under Mr. J. Bush at the Local Board of Art, where he obtained the town silver medal. His successes in his studies in London give every promise of a brilliant career.

Notes and Queries.

[CONFINED TO MATTERS RELATING TO WALES AND THE BORDER COUNTIES.]

NOTES.

THE PEDIGREE OF THE JOHNES FAMILY.-In my dissertation on the several families of Jones and Johnes, I feel assured that both you and your readers thoroughly comprehend the nature of my standpoint. You may credit me that I care not for controversy on such a subject as this, for I may truly observe I have no desire to intrude on family matters or descent, except in self-defence and by way of preserving intact those inherited rights and privileges which it is the duty of every enlightened man to conserve. Much has been said in this controversy concerning the authority of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps, of Middle Hill. Many years ago, when I resided at Oak House, Carmarthen, the worthy baronet paid me a special visit for the purpose of submitting for my inspection his MS. pedigrees, with the hope that if I discovered therein any errors I would duly point them out, and mark them for correction. "Believe me, Mr. Thomas," he was kind enough to say, "I have no small opinion of your ability and skill as regards Welsh genealogies." Being young, I naturally felt pleased at his observations, more particularly as he left his MS. 'pedigrees with me for correction, and he invited me to spend the evening with Lady Phillipps and himself at the Ivy Bush Hotel, an invitation which I accepted, and a most agreeable evening it turned out to be for myself. Lady Phillips, who was a near relative of the late Sir John Mansel, Bart., of Maesdilo, begged of me, as she was retiring, not to leave, but to remain and keep her husband company, adding, "I shall now leave you, gentlemen, to the full enjoyment of your favourite study." In the course of conversation that evening, Sir Thomas brought up the Johnes of Hafod pedigree, as given by Meyrick in his Cardiganshire, assuring me there was nothing in the form of legal evidence to warrant or bear it out. "Through the kindness of Mr. Valentine Davies," he said, "I have searched the will office at Carmarthen, and from all I have there gleaned, there is nothing to warrant the pedigree of Colonel Johnes of Hafod." Amongst other things then submitted for my inspection was a highly valuable and unique illuminated vellum pedigree of the knightly family of Jones of Abermarlais. "Look carefully at that, Mr. Thomas," said the knight, "and compare it with the Johnes of Hafod pedigree, which it completely refutes as regards the authenticity of the surname, which, undoubtedly. was Jones, and a time-honoured one too, and one which had nothing to do with the more modern one of Johnes. Were it not that I respect the present Mr. Johnes, of Dolaucothi, I would, in the account which I left with you this afternoon, and which I intend to publish, make some severe strictures on the Hafod pedigree." If I recollect rightly, he then told me either that this illuminated pedigree was executed by the celebrated Thomas Johns, or Jones, of Fountain Gate, alias Twm Sion Catti, or that it was a transcript of it by an eminent herald.

In the Mabws MS. I find (No. 22-793, article, "Dolecothy") that the pedigree of this house is given, throughout the ten or eleven generations, under the time-honoured patronymic of Jones, not one single Johnes appearing in that line of descent. My copy is taken from a transcript by Dr. D. Rowlands, Chatham. The last name appearing in the pedigree of Dolecothy is Francis Jones, whose

mother was a Miss Mainwaring, Llandovery. This Francis Jones was the nephew of Mrs. Ann Lloyd, of Glangwili, and of her sister, Mrs. Bridget Lloyd, of Bronwydd, who afterwards became the wife of John Williams, of Dolecothy, the brother of Sir Nicholas Williams of Edwinsford. I have every reason to believe that this Francis Jones died at Dolegwm, and that his will was proved at the Carmarthen Probate Court, circa 1723, and is still extant at our Probate Office. Francis Jones was the grandson of Mr. James Jones, of Dolaucothy and Abermâd, High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1667, and for Cardiganshire in 1670. The will of his father, John Jones (most assuredly not Johnes), was also proved at Carmarthen, circa A.D. 1700, for I have both seen and read it. Having thus, I think, dilated sufficiently for my present purpose on the male line of Jones of Dolaucothi from the Mabws MS., for it has never been my good fortune to have seen the Golden Grove MS., we will now turn our attention to some of the female members of this old and distinguished line. From the same Mabws MS. we find that David Llwyd, of Glansevin, or Llansefyn, married Mary, the daughter of James Jones, the elder, of Dolaucothi, Sheriff for Cardiganshire (in respect of his Llanbadarn estate) in 1586. He was the third son of the first Sir Thomas Jones, Knight, of Haroldston and of Abermarlais, Carmarthenshire, the first recorded Knight of the Shire, as well as High Sheriff for Pembrokeshire in the reign of Henry VIII. Under article "Porthyresid," or "Berllandowill," in the same MS., we find that Thomas Llwyd, of this old residence, married Winifrid Jones, daughter of Thomas Jones (Glansawthy), of Llanbadarn and Dolecothy. This Thomas Jones was son and heir of the last James Jones of Glansevin. In most of the lists of sheriffs for this county he is called Thomas Johns of Glansouthy, and served in 1617. But on reference to an original roll of high sheriffs for this county, formerly in the possession of Mr. Charles Henry Hughes, of Carmarthen, the former county treasurer, we find the name more correctly given as Thomas Jones of Glansawthy; and this fact is fully corroborated even by Meyrick himself in his list for Cardiganshire, for there we find this very Thomas Jones high sheriff for that county in 1618. We will now again, and for the last time, refer to the Mabws MS., and to a family therein in which I am especially interested, both by property and descent, as a co-representative equally with the present Lloyd Prices, since Lloyd Lloyd, of Glangwili. Turning to Carmarthenshire, article "Llanllawddog," we find near the end of this pedigree of Llwyd or Lloyd, that the last lineal heir male of his line, John Lloyd, married Ann, the daughter of the last James Jones of Dolecothy, who served the office of High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1667. His eldest son, Thomas Jones, and the only one by his first wife, Mary Pughe, of Mathafarn, became seated at Llanfair-Clydogau, through his marriage with the heiress, Miss Lloyd, of that place, Their grandson, the son of the high sheriff, in respect of the Llanfair-Clydogau estate in 1705, was our old friend, Thomas Jones, of Llanfair, M.P. for Cardiganshire in 1713, and the veritable husband, in despite of the Hafod tablet, of Jane Herbert, of Hafod. His signature can yet be seen at our Probate Court. As I before stated, he was trustee for the Llanllawddog estate in 1731.

I take it that the tablet erected in Hafod church to the memory of William Herbert, and which I myself cannot help believing was placed there by Colonel Johnes or some of his family, for the Herberts and Jones' families had then passed away-has been exceedingly misleading to many, aye even to the author or compiler of the list of representatives in Parliament for the county of Cardigan. It has, however, not misled me, for even if the Thomas Jones who figures on it as Thomas Johnes did assume the name of Johnes, he was the first of his family that ever did so, and that could not for one instant justify Colonel Johnes of Hafod in changing backwards the ancestry of this Thomas Jones, and turning them all, upwards to the reign of Henry VIII., into his own surname of Johnes. In Meyrick's History of Cardiganshire, article "Bronwydd," Thomas Lloyd, the then head of his house and family, is mentioned as having married Bridget, daughter to James Jones, of Dolicothie. This was the only and younger sister of Mrs. Ann Lloyd, of Glangwili, and daughter, by his second wife, Mary Pryse, of Gogerthan, of the High Sheriff for Co. Carmarthen in 1667, and for Cardigan, in respect to his Abermâd estate, in 1670. On the death of Thomas Lloyd, of Bronwydd, Bridget, his widow, married John Williams, who, either in her own right, or by purchase, previously, became possessed of the demesne of Dolaucothi. Turning to more modern days, let us open Burke (Seats and

Arms) where, under article "Dolaucothi," page 203, we read as follows in an account, which, however, I do not for one moment hold the learned author accountable for :-" Dolaucothy, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, the seat of John Johnes, Esq., &c. This estate, so far as records allow us to trace it, has always been possessed by the family of the present owner, never having for a single moment changed hands. The date of the building is unknown. All that can be said of it is, that it presents the appearance of a plain country gentleman's residence, which it would be difficult to assign to any particular order of architecture." For the reasons I set out with, and in virtue of my lawful inherited descent from John Lloyd, of Glangwili, and his wife, Ann Jones, of Dolaucothi, I cannot permit the statement that Dolaucothi has always been in the hands of the Johnes family to pass unchallenged. This account is entirely a mistaken one. Firstly, because I have shown that Dolaucothy originally became the inherited estate of the issue of James Jones, Esq., of Llanbadarn, who became possessed of it through the death, issueless, of Richard Parry and Morgan Parry, or ap Harry, only brothers of the full blood of James Jones's wife-and thus the uncles, maternally, of Thomas Jones, of Glansouthy, High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1617, and for Cardigan in 1618, before mentioned under Berllandowill. His son and heir was James Jones, Esq., of Dolaucothi and Abermâd, father to Mrs. Lloyd, of Glangwili, and to her sister, Mrs. Lloyd, of Bronwydd, the wife, secondly, of the aforesaid John Willianis, of Dolecothi. Thus we find that the next possessor of the demesne of Dolaucothi was John Williams, whose wife, as I have shown, was the veritable daughter of James Jones, Esq., of that old inherited estate of his, as well as that of Abermâd in Cardiganshire. The old town council books of Carmarthen will show that John Williams, Esq., was in the year 1713 nominated and seconded Mayor of that Borough for the ensuing year, though, for some reason or other, he declined the honour. From this fact, and from his last will and testament, it will be seen that he resided at and owned Dolaucothi from 1711 until his death, circa 1729, and that his housekeeper or servant maid, by his bequest, was given a life residence there, up to the time of her death, circa 1735. She was Elizabeth Williams, daughter of John, or Thomas Williams, shopkeeper, of Pencarreg. The Stepney deed in my possession, dated 1724, also corroborates the fact, sufficiently proved by his will, that John Williams was resident there in that year. The first of the present owners of Dolaucothi was Thomas Johnes, whose last will and testament was proved at Carmarthen in 1751. His wife, as I have already shown, was Miss Rees, of Towyn, who ultimately became heiress or co-heiress to her brother of the full blood, Edward Rees, and thus, it has been said, in the person of herself or her son and heir, John Johnes, Esq., of Dolaucothi, enjoyed the Pen-y-fon estate. It was by this means that he, the said John Johnes, was elected to serve the office of high sheriff for this county in 1803-the first of his family who attained to that honour. John Johnes was father to the late Chairman of Quarter Sessions, and Judge of the County Court for this district. From all I have now stated, and, I trust, fairly, I must leave you, sir, and your readers to decide whether or not I have cleared up much that was before ambiguous and muddled concerning what I must still emphatically assert were two separate and totally distinct families. I have personally nothing whatever to do with the Johnes family or their wills at Somerset House, but I certainly am on the maternal side descended from both the lines of Jones of Abermarlais and their cadet branch, the Joneses of Dolaucothi and Abermâd, as I believe I have most amply and fully shown. No false sentiment for the dead will ever prevent me protecting, if I have it in my power to do so, the just and lawful rights of the living. Carmarthen.

WM. GWYN STEDMAN THOMAS.

THE FEATS OF WELSH ARCHERS.-Giraldus Cambrensis, speaking of the ancient Britons of Wales as famous for their dexterity with the bow in the time of our second Henry, says :-"There is a particular tribe in Wales named the Venta; a people brave and warlike, and who far excel the other inhabitants of that country in the practice of archery. During a siege it happened that two soldiers, running in haste towards a tower situated at a little distance from them, were attacked with a number of arrows from the Welsh, which, being shot with prodigious violence, some penetrated the oak doors of a portal, although they were the breadth of four fingers in thickness. The heads of the arrows were afterwards driven out, and

preserved in order to continue the ren embrance of such extraordinary shooting with the bow. It happened also in a battle, at the time of William de Brusa, as he himself relates, that a Welshman having directed his arrow at a horse soldier, who was clad in armour, and had under it his leather coat, the arrow pierced through the man's hip and also struck through the saddle, and mortally wounded the horse on which he sat. Another Welsh so'ier, having shot an arrow at a horseman who was protected by stout armour in the same way, the si aft penetrated through his hip and fixed in the saddle; but what is most remarkable is, that as the horseman drew his bridle to turn round, he received another arrow in his hip on the opposite side, which also passing through, he was firmly fastened to the saddle on both sides."

Tenby.

WELSH GIRL.

WOMEN AND THE WELSH WARS.-In the National Review for November there is an interesting article entitled "The Relation of Women to the State in Past Times," by Miss Helen Blackburn. Instances are adduced showing that, in the time of Edward I., women held courts of frank-pledge, held and attended courts of the hundred and of the county, held assizes of bread and ale, and that they even possessed power of life and death over disturbers of the peace. As tenants of the crown, women were liable to those obligations of military service on which feudal tenure is built up, and it is pointed out that the names of many ladies occur amongst the nobles summoned in 1277 to furnish their due service to the king. Five years later, according to Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs (Records' Commission, pp. 244-5), writs were thus issued for the Welsh Wars :-"We command you by the fealty, homage and love by which you hold of us, strictly injoining that you be with us, with men and arms, and all service due, ready to set forth with us thence (i.e., from Rutland) on our expedition against the said Welsh malefactors and rebels; and this ye shall in nowise omit."

Cardiff.

GEO. H. BRIERLEY.

NATURAL PHENOMENA IN WALES.-In the General Magazine for November, 1755, there is an account of a "most extraordinary_phænomenon on the 1st, which alarmed several sea-port Towns in England and Ireland, and several Cities in Holland." "At Swansea, about three Quarters past 6 in the Evening, after two Hours ebb, a large Head of Water rushed up the River with a great Noise; floated two large Vessels; broke their Stern-moorings, and hove them across the River, and it was with great Difficulty they were prevented from over-setting. It fell almost as suddenly, for in ten minutes there was no Appearance left of more Water than usual at that Time of Tide."

Llanelly.

ARTHUR MEE.

CORNISH CROMLECHS (continued).-Lady L has sent me a short description of the two (supposed to be Druidical) relics alluded to at page 463 of the Red Dragon for November, and I hasten to compile from it a brief account of "The Hurlers" and "The Cheese Wring." The former are a collection of stones on Sharppoint Tor, said to be men transformed into masses of granite for hurling on a Sunday. They undoubtedly are of great antiquity, and consist of three circles of upright stones, the largest circle being in the centre. A great many of them have unfortunately been carried off for use by neighbouring farmers, being more shapely for gateposts than the other waste blocks which lie about the Tor in heaps. They range from about four feet in height upwards. "The Cheese Wring" stands upon a hill to the north of "The Hurlers," and the stones rest upon each other like a pile of cheeses, some being smaller than the rest. First of all there is one small block, then three more, all of about the same size, followed by an enormous stone, on the top of which rest three others of less dimensions, the whole pile being crowned by a rather tiny one. These stones are all well rounded; there is nothing angular or sharp about them, and one is fain to believe that they must have been fashioned and placed in the position they Occupy by the hand of man. There is a St. Clare, or as the country folk pronounce it, Cleer, in Cornwall, not very far from "The Cheese Wring," and a