Professor Boyd Dawkins said that, so far as he was able to read the inscription, the stone had marked the site of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's burial-place. It was of great historical interest. Archdeacon Thomas remarked on the varied characters used, some of which were early, and others were comparatively late. There were no less than five different forms of the letter R on the stone.

A correspondent, writing Sept. 1, to the Western Mail, sarcastically remarks that the solemn conclave over the dilapidated stone at Pentre Voelas reminded him forcibly of the immortal Pickwick Club and the "Bilstumps' Monolith.' The sober discussion of the subject by competent palæographers of high reputation hardly deserves such a comment, but the observations made call for some notice, as they are doubtless opinions entertained but not expressed by some Members present at Pentre Voelas. His statements that "All history and all tradition point to Abbey Cwm Hir as the final burial-place of the murdered Prince, and that all written history, till Mr. Williams Nicholson came along, has given Abbey Cwm Hir as his final resting-place," are disproved amply by the quotations from the Chroniclers given in Arch. Camb., 1911, pp. 28-42. The Western Mail Correspondent cannot be serious in urging that "Camden's reading is much more likely to be correct than any reading of to-day." Has he looked up the passage in Camden? To his question: "Is not the introduction of the Anglo-Saxon word 'North' in an otherwise Latin inscription fatal to Mr. Williams Nicholson's reading?" the sufficient answer is that in the Chronicle of Aberconwy's account of Llywelyn's death there occurs the phrase omnia Castra Northwallie (Arch. Camb., 1911, p. 33). In what he calls "the Bury Chronicle," which is known to scholars as "the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester," Llywelyn's head is stated to have been brought to North Wales. Caput ad regem in Nordwalliam est illatum. In the Charter Rolls, 29 Edward I, 1301, the King grants his son Edward omnes terras nostras Northwall' Angleseye et de Hope. In Charter, 1 Hen. IV, the grant to Prince Hal mentions terris nostris North Wall', West Wall', South Wall'— "dominii de Newyn et Pulghely in North Wall.”

Colonel Mainwaring mentioned that the older villagers could remember a large hollow on the summit of the tumulus already referred to, in which timber had been found.

Luncheon was served in the schoolroom by the courtesy of the managers, who were formally thanked by the President. Professor Dawkins jocularly remarked that the managers, by their kindness that day, had done much to advance education in Wales!

After a short stay in Pentre Voelas village, the delightful drive was resumed, leaving the great London road for the moorland, over which, before Telford cut his straight highway from Cerrig y drudion to Pentre Voelas, lay the route from the Dee to the Conway. Rhydlydan, the next halting-place, was then a fortified house with a quadrangle and a high wall all round. Above the arched gateway was a quaint little room in which the Royalists were said to have met, 1643.

At this point the carriages were left, and the party walked through beautiful country, commanding a magnificent view of the Snowdonian range.

At length Gilar was reached. Colonel Mainwaring, who gave a brief description of the house, said it was supposed to have been built in 1623, and was one of the best specimens of an old Welsh house with its old gate-house. It was the residence of Baron Price, who was called "the patron of his native country" from the fact that he successfully opposed the grant by King William III to William Bentinck, Earl of Portland, of the lordships of Denbigh, Bromfield, and Yale. The family of Price was united by marriage with that of Wynne, and so two large estates came into one family. The gate-house has inscribed on it the initials of Thomas Price Wynne, Sheriff in 1624, and Colonel Mainwaring said he was told that in days gone by the bards of the district used to meet at this house and go through their compositions, and in that way the traditions and pedigrees of the neighbourhood were preserved and handed down.

TP W

1623'

Mr. Bezant Lowe remarked that most of the place-names were formed of the name Price with appropriate prefixes. Thus the village was Trebrys, the range at the back was Carnbrys.

Copies of portraits of members of the Price family were handed round, and a question was put to one of the residents of the place as to the use of the gate-house (which is separated from the dwelling place by a large quadrangle). Her reply was: "Oh, they used to shoot people from the gateway!"

The party next proceeded to Plas Iolyn, the old residence of Ellis Price, D.D., the famous Doctor Coch, who was a Member of Parliament in the time of Elizabeth, and several times Sheriff of Merioneth, Carnarvon, Anglesey, and Denbigh.

Mr. Bezant Lowe pointed to the remains of a large square tower with a dungeon cut in the solid rock. He said that tradition gave Ellis Price a very bad character, being looked upon as one who took all he could lay his hands on. It was said that he built the tall tower so that he could watch who was passing through the district in order to sally forth and rob them, the dungeon becoming useful for those who objected.

Mr. Bezant Lowe urged the Members to collect all the folk-tales they possibly could. He had spent a short time among the people, and in one day had collected five folk-tales, which dated back 100 years. One story told of Dr. Price was that it used to be an old Welsh custom when the head of a farmstead died that the landowner claimed anything he liked. Dr. Price on one occasion exercised this right and claimed a goose. He invited a friend to dine, but as he turned up late he found that Dr. Price had eaten the whole of the bird himself.

Archdeacon Thomas said that although it was alleged that Dr. Price did a great many things that were wrong there was no

doubt that he was a man of great ability, for he had been selected by Cambridge as one of its champions in a very learned controversy. Dr. Price's ancestors had been stewards of large estates in various counties. He agreed with Mr. Lowe that every effort should be made to secure folk-tales. Whenever anyone heard a tale they should write it down.

Mr. Bezant Lowe added that Dr. Price was the official who received the order from Queen Elizabeth for the organisation of the great Eisteddfod, held at Caerwys in Flintshire.

Rev. Eyre Evans called attention to a bit of old Welsh home life, rush-lights made of rushes steeped in melted resin and fat, still in use, and the meal of oat cakes actually at that moment being prepared in the kitchen for the farm hands. A horn about 5 ft. in length was shown, used at the present day to call the farm labourers

from the fields.

Yspytty Ifan Church was described by the Vicar, Rev. T. Llechid Jones. The present Church is supposed to have been built on a portion of the site of the old Hospice of St. John, founded in 1192. When the old Church was taken down in 1858 portions of freestone tombs and window jambs belonging to a still earlier Church were found in the walls, but no traces of the Hospice.

Three very interesting effigies are carefully arranged on the floor at the west end, representing Rhys Fawr ap Meredydd of Plas Iolyn, the standard-bearer of Henry VII at the battle of Bosworth, Lowry, his wife, daughter of Hywel ap Gruffydd Goch, Lord of Rhufoniog, and Robert, their son, a chaplain of Cardinal Wolsey and lessee of the manor at the time of the Dissolution.

In the S. wall of the chancel is a brass tablet with the inscription, "Maurice Gethin ap Robert Gethin ap," followed below by a skull and cross-bones and the names of

At the bottom of the Brass are engraved clasped hands with figures of one son, father, mother, three girls, and a babe in swaddling clothes over a skull and cross-bones, and the legend, LIVE to DY and DY to LIVE.

Above the whole

DVW ANRHODDODD

DVW ANDDYGODD

Cariad i'wr cwbwl.

The district after the departure of the Knights of St. John was stated by Sir John Wynne to have been occupied by thieves and marauders.

Archdeacon Thomas said he took all that Sir John Wynne said with a grain of salt, as he wanted to get the lead of the Knights of

St. John, and when he failed he had not a good word for them. All the families of the neighbourhood took sides in the War of the Roses, and the friends of Sir John were represented by him to be all that was good, and those opposed to his views all that was bad. Sir John harassed the occupants of the Hospice, and drove them out so that they became bandits, but they did a great deal of good and helped travellers who passed the various granges they established. In fact the Knights of St. John protected the poor in a rough age. As for Sir John Wynne there was a tradition that the people of the district were so dissatisfied with him that they alleged his soul was still groaning under the water at the Swallow Falls.

A most delightful and instructive Excursion was brought to a conclusion by a visit, with the kind permission of Mr. Wynne Finch, to Voelas Hall where the Brochmael Stone is carefully preserved.

The first notice of this stone appears in the Cambro-Briton, i, 360, in which it is stated that in forming the new line of the Holyhead Road, between Lima and Cernioge in 1820, the workmen, while cutting through the corner of a field called Dol tre beddau, under the farm of Ty'n y bryn, discovered about forty graves, about 2 yards in length, most of them cased with rough stones, and all lying within the compass of 20 yards by 10. The most perfect of the graves, with floor, ends, sides and cover complete, contained a skeleton, about 6 ft. in length. On the under side of the slab which