Population of Penybont Village (included above)

Do. of Tre'rllan, Cwmllech, Pengwern, and Cedig

210

182

106

498

250

748

120

181

The money raised by the parish rates in 1803 was £184 10s. at 4s. 8d. in the pound. And in the year 1875 the rates collected under the title of poor rates, amounted to £484 12s. 10d. at 1s. 2d. in the pound, by two instalments. This enormous difference can be accounted for only by a large increase in the number of tenements, as well as by a difference in the valuation of property, during the seventy-two years intervening. At the present day, the high rateable value of property, with its increased demands and rates and imposts, and the prevailing high rents, and the high wages demanded by servants and labourers, occasion loud complaints from all classes.

Industrial. The pursuits of the people are wholly agricultural. Only a very small proportion find employment in the mines and quarries at Llangynog. There is not a single manufacture carried on within it. And what may be considered a singular feature, is, that within its whole limits there is not a single cornmill. The roads are good throughout the whole district. The only great drawback is the want of a railroad, the nearest railway station is at Llanfyllin, which also is the nearest market town, but communication is regu

larly kept up with the Oswestry markets, which has become the central and principal town for this and the neighbouring districts. Previous to Oswestry being made what it is by becoming the great centre of the Cambrian Railway System, Shrewsbury was the " metropolitan town", and to this market the farmers hereabout resorted. Of course it was a loss of a couple or more days to go and return and do business there; the distance to Shrewsbury from the principal village of the parish being about thirty-two miles. The capital village of the parish is at Penybontfawr, in Lower Pennant, where also small fairs have been attempted to be established, but are of no note whatever in any respect.

Education. The only school in the parish is at Penybontfawr, which is a national ("voluntary") one. The school and house for the master were built in the year 1859, at a cost of £617. Previous to which time, the means of education were precarious. The district of Upper Pennant, is in a better condition than the Lower, by its being formed into a school district in union with the Llangynog parish, the both forming a "United School District." Compulsory attendance is there enforced, and the change is very perceptible although the same has only been practically at work about three years.

CHARITIES The following is a summary of the gifts to the poor.

Mrs. Lloyd's Charity-Mrs. Lloyd, by will, bearing date the 1st December 1730, bequeathed her messuage, lands and premises situate in Rhiwarth, in the parish of Llangynog, unto her grandchild Henry Lloyd, upon condition that he, or whoever should be heir and have the inheritance of the said premises, should pay and dispose of the sum of £2 yearly, at Easter Eve for ever among the poor of the parish of Llangynog, and that part of the parish of Pennant called Cumpennant, (that is to say,) £1 yearly to each parish.

Morris Jones's Charity.-Morris Jones of Cwmllech gave a field, the rent of which was to be divided equally

340

PENNANT MELANGELL, ITS HISTORY, ETC.

between the parish of Llanrhaiadr and this parish. It produces to this parish 10s. 6d. a year.

Thomas's Charities.-Henry Thomas, Esq., of Llechweddgarth, gave £20 to the poor; Catherine Morris of Cwmllech gave £20; and Madocks of Llechweddgarth gave £10.

Ellis Jones's Charity.-Ellis Jones of Peniarthisa, by will, bearing date 29th of May 1802, gave the sum of

£30.

The total amount derivable from these charities is £6 10s. 6d.

(To be continued.)

HERBERTIANA.

SUPPLEMENT.

(Continued from Vol. ix, p. 402.)

PART III.

WE now proceed to details connected with the Herberts of Montgomery Castle and their descendants, and shall make frequent use of Epistolary Curiosities; Series the First and Second, "consisting of unpublished letters of the seventeenth century", illustrative of the Herbert family, and of the reigns of James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, and William III. Edited by Rebecca Warner, of Beech Cottage, Bath.

These letters have a special attraction for all persons interested in the annals of the Herbert family, as being found in Ribbesford House, Worcestershire, by the Rev. E. Winnington Ingram, who gave them to George Edward Henry Arthur, subsequently second Earl of Powis, of the second creation, in 1746.

Several of these documents passed by purchase into the estate and house above-named at the close of the eighteenth century, from George Powlett the twelfth Marquis of Winchester, descended from Sir Henry Herbert, the first proprietor of Ribbesford of the Herbert family, through his daughter Magdalene, wife of Sir Charles Morley, Kt. They thus fell into the possession of Francis Ingram, Esq., of Bewdley, who devised them by will to his kinsman the Rev. E. Winnington Ingram, Canon of Worcester.

They contain much original information, and bring

vividly to our notice the scenes and characters of a bygone age. Several of the letters from this publication have already appeared in our series, and supplementary facts are still capable of being gleaned from this ample field, which will afford the appearance of greater completeness and increased research to the readers of Herbertiana.

We proceed with a letter written by Elizabeth, daughter of James the First, Queen of Bohemia, and called in the Low Countries from her engaging deportment "the Queen of Hearts". It is addressed to Sir Edward Herbert, afterwards the first Lord Herbert of Chirbury, who was honoured with her particular esteem, and regard. He made two visits to her, and her husband Frederick, Prince Palatine, when they resided at Heidelberg, and was received by them both in the most kind and hospitable manner, and a correspondence was maintained between him and the Queen, after their loss of the Crown of Bohemia, when they were seeking shelter in Holland.

I

(From the Queen of Bohemia to Sir Edward Herbert.)

pray be assured that my being in childbed hath hindered all this while from thanking you for your letter, and no forgetfulness of mine to you, to whome I have ever had obligation for your love, which I will ever acknowledge, and seeke to requite in what I can; which I entreat you to be confident of, and that these lines may assure you of it, from her, that is ever your most assured friend, "The Hagh, this 7th June.

"R. ELIZABETH."

Of Richard, the second Lord Herbert, there is no mention, but his son and successor Edward, third Lord Herbert, often arrests our attention by his sagacious remarks about the state of Ireland, his satisfaction with his residence at Castle Island, and his anxiety about the life and marriage of his brother Captain Herbert. We subjoin extracts from letters to his uncle, Sir Henry Herbert.2

"Dublin, 1st Jan. 1672. "There is nothing here worth notice, but that our Lord Lieutenant

1 Vol. i, p. 13.

2 Vol. 1, pp. 79 and 81.