: The Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Shôn Catti Descriptive of Life in Wales: Interspersed with Poems by Prichard T J Llewelyn Thomas Jeffery Llewelyn - Jones Thomas approximately 1530-approximately 1620 Fiction

@FreeBooks

Posted in: #FreeBooks #FreeBooksIndia #FreeBooksApp #gg

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

THE ADVENTURES AND VAGARIES OF TWM SH?N CATTI,

DESCRIPTIVE OF

LIFE IN WALES:

Interspersed with Poems.

BY T. J. LLEWELYN PRICHARD.

Mae llevain mawr a gwaeddi Yn Ystrad F?n eleni A cherrig nadd yn toddi 'n blwm Rhag ovn Twm Sh?n Catti.

In Ystrad F?n this year, appalling The tumult loud, the weeping, wailing, That thrills with fear and pity; The lightning scathes the mountain's head, The massy stones dissolve like lead, All nature shudders at the tread And shout of Twm Sh?n Catti.

The popularity of Twm Sh?n Catti's name in Wales. The resemblance of his character to that of Robin Hood and others. An exposition of the spurious account of our hero in the "INNKEEPER'S ALBUM," and in the drama founded thereon. The honor of his birth claimed by different towns. A true account of his birth and parentage.

THE preface to the once popular farce of "Killing no Murder" informs us, that many a fry of infant Methodists are terrified and frightened to bed by the cry of "the Bishop is coming!"--That the right reverend prelates of the realm should become bugbears and buggaboos to frighten the children of Dissenters, is curious enough, and evinces a considerable degree of ingenious malignity in bringing Episcopacy into contempt, if true. Be that as it may in England, in Wales it is not so; for the demon of terror and monster of the nursery there, to check the shrill cry of infancy, and enforce silent obedience to the nurse or mother, is Twm Sh?n Catti. But "babes and sucklings" are not the only ones on whom that name has continued to act as a spell; nor are fear and wonder its only attributes, for the knavish exploits and comic feats of the celebrated freebooter Twm Sh?n Catti, are, like those of Robin Hood in England, the themes of many a rural rhyme, and the subject of many a village tale; where, seated round the ample hearth of the farm house, or the more limited one of the lowly cottage, an attentive audience is ever found, where his mirth-exciting tricks are told and listened to with vast satisfaction, unsated by the frequency of repetition: for the "lowly train" are generally strangers to that fastidiousness which turns, disgusted, from the twice-told tale.

If the misrepresentation of historical characters, re-moulded and amplified, to suit the fascinating details of romance, be a fault generally, it is particularly offensive in the present case, where the being treated of, is so well known to almost every peasant throughout the principality; so that a real account of our hero, if not exactly useful, may at least prove amusing, in this age of inquiry, to stand by the side of the fictitious tale; and if this detail is found also to partake occasionally of the embellishments of fancy, it will at least be characteristic. Little, it is true, of his life is known, and that little collected principally from the varying and uncertain source of oral tradition. Some anecdotes and remarks respecting him have of late years been committed to record, in the writings of Theophilus Jones, the Breconshire historian, and in the "Hynafion Cymreig," which Dr. Meyrick has quoted in his "History of Cardiganshire;" but his rover's exploits and vagaries I met with principally in a homely Welsh pamphlet of eight pages, printed on tea-paper, and sold at the moderate price of two-pence.

Twm Sh?n Catti was the natural son of Sir John Wynne, of Gwydir, bart. author of that quaint and singular work, the "History of the Gwydir Family," by a woman whose name was Catherine. Of her condition little has hitherto been made known; but as surnames were not then generally adopted in Wales, her son became distinguished only by the appellation of Twm Sh?n Catti; literally, Thomas John Catherine, though it implied "Thomas the son of John and Catherine."

Like the immortal Homer, different towns have put forth their claims to the enviable distinction of having given our hero birth; among which Cardigan, Llandovery, and Carmarthen, are said to have displayed considerable warmth in asserting their respective pretensions. A native of the latter far-famed borough town, whose carbuncled face and rubicund nose--indelible stamps of bacchanalian royalty--proclaimed him the undisputed prince of topers, roundly affirmed that no town but Carmarthen--ever famed for its stout ale, large dampers, and blustering heroes of the pipe and pot--could possibly have produced such a jolly dog. It is with regret that we perceive such potent authority opposed by the united opinions of our Cambrian bards and antiquaries, who place his birth in the year 1590, at Tregaron--that primitive, yet no longer obscure, Cardiganshire town, but long celebrated throughout the principality for its pony fair; and above all, as the established birth-place of Twm Sh?n Catti. He first saw the light, it seems, at a house of his mother's, situate on a hill south-east of Tregaron, called Llidiard-y-Fynnon, from its situation beside an excellent well, that previous to the discovery of other springs, nearer to their habitations, supplied the good people of Tregaron with water. That distinguished spot is now, however, more generally known by the more elevated name of Pl?s Twm Sh?n Catti, the ruins of which are still pointed out by the neighbouring people to any curious traveller who may wish to enrich the pages of his virgin tour by their important communications.

Free books android app tbrJar TBR JAR Read Free books online gutenberg

(0)

Login to post a comment!