Notes and Queries, Number 28, May 11, 1850 — John Shaqi
Notes and Queries, Number 28, May 11, 1850Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 28, May 11, 1850
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
_Twm Sion Catti._--The noted robber, Twm Sion or Shôn Catti, referred to
at No. 24. p. 383., was a Welshman who flourished between the years 1590
and 1630. He was the natural son of Sir John Wynne, and obtained his
surname of Catti from the appellation of his mother Catherine. In early
life he was a brigand of the most audacious character, who plundered and
terrified the rich in such a manner that his name was a sufficient
warrant for the raising of any sum which he might desire; while his
unbounded generosity to the poor or unprotected, joined to an innate
love of fun and frolic--for he was a very Eulenspiegel--made him the
darling of the people. His chosen dwelling-place was in the almost
inaccessible cave situated near Llandovery, at the junction of the Tywi
and the Dethia (the Toothy of Drayton), which still bears his name. As
time passed on, he wooed and won the heiress of Ystrad-ffin, in the vale
of Tywi; and on becoming possessed of her property, abandoned his wild
life, and with it the name of Catti; and quietly subsiding into Thomas
Jones, Esq., became a poet and antiquary of high reputation. In addition
to which, and as if to mark their sense of the value of a man so
powerful for good or for evil, the government appointed him high sheriff
for the county of Carmarthen. He died universally respected, and left a
name which yet kindles many a Welsh heart, or amuses many a cottage
circle in the long nights of winter.
His life has been published in an 8vo. volume, which was probably the
work to which the "Note" of "MELANION" referred.
SELEUCUS.
_Cheshire Round_ (No. 24. p. 383.).--A dance so called, peculiar to the
county from whence it takes its name. The musical notes of the _Cheshire
Round_ may be seen in _The Dancing Master_, 1721, vol. i., and in Edward
Jones' _Cheshire Melodies_. It was sometimes danced "longways for as
many us will" (as described in _The Dancing Master_), but more
frequently by one person. A handbill of the time of William the Third
states, "In Bartholomew Fair, at the Coach-House on the Pav'd stones at
Hosier-Lane-End, you shall see a Black that dances the _Cheshire Rounds_
to the admiration of all spectators." Michael Root and John Sleepe, two
clever caterers of "Bartlemy," also advertise "a little boy that dances
the _Cheshire Round_ to perfection." There is a portrait of Dogget the
celebrated comedian (said to be the only one extant, but query if it is
not Penkethman?), representing him dancing the _Cheshire Round_, with
the motto "_Ne sutor ultra crepidam_."
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
_Horns to a River._--Why the poets give horns to rivers, must be sought
for in the poet's book, nature. I like the interpretation given by a
glance up some sinuous and shelving valley, where the mighty stream,
more than half lost to the eye, is only seen in one or two of its bolder
reaches, as it tosses itself here to the right, and there to the left,
to find a way for its mountain waters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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