Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
Three weeks before the death of her aunt.
Mr. John Llewelyn, Rhos-y-Gwydr, somewhere on the borders of
Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, when he went to the door of
Rhydwilym Chapel one evening, he was surprised when he listened,
to hear his own voice preaching a funeral sermon.
A DAY-DREAM.
Another remarkable instance of second-sight seeing appeared in "Notes
and Queries" for July, 1858. The contributor, Mr. John Pavin Phillips,
gives the following account of what occurred to him himself in the
year 1818, upon his return home to Pembrokeshire, after many years'
absence:--
"A few days after my arrival, I took a walk one morning in the yard
of one of our parish churches, through which there is a right of
way for pedestrians. My object was a twofold one: Firstly, to enjoy
the magnificent prospect visible from that portion; and secondly, to
see whether any of my friends or acquaintances who had died during my
absence were buried in the locality. After gazing around me for a short
time, I sauntered on, looking at one tombstone and then at another,
when my attention was arrested by an altar-tomb enclosed within an iron
railing. I walked up to it and read an inscription which informed me
that it was in memory of Colonel ----. This gentleman had been the
assistant Poor Law Commissioner for South Wales, and while on one
of his periodical tours of inspection, he was seized with apoplexy
in the Workhouse of my native town, and died in a few hours. This
was suggested to my mind as I read the inscription on the tomb,
as the melancholy event occurred during the period of my absence,
and I was only made cognisant of the fact through the medium of the
local press. Not being acquainted with the late Colonel ----, and
never having seen him, the circumstances of his sudden demise had long
passed from my memory, and were only revived by my thus viewing his
tomb. I then passed on, and shortly afterwards returned home. On my
arrival my father asked me in what direction I had been walking, and
I replied, in ---- Churchyard, looking at the tombs, and among others
I have seen the tomb of Col. ----, who died in the Workhouse. 'That'
replied my father 'is impossible, as there is no tomb erected over
Colonel ----'s grave.' At this remark I laughed. 'My dear father,'
said I, 'You want to persuade me that I cannot read. I was not aware
that Colonel ---- was buried in the Churchyard, and was only informed
of the fact by reading the inscription on the tomb.' 'Whatever you may
say to the contrary' said my father, 'What I tell you is true; there
is no tomb over Colonel ----'s grave.' Astounded by the reiteration of
this statement, as soon as I had dined I returned to the Churchyard
and again inspected all the tombs having railings around them, and
found that my father was right.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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