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THE "SIX EATER" IN WALES.…

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THE "SIX EATER" IN WALES. + The following letter from the Rev. Professor Evans of the Lniversity Collego of Wales, appears in the last number of the Academy, f nd, the subject having attracted considerable attention in tho Principality, no apology is needed for reproducing the communica- tion at length :— Aberystwyth, Jan. 2f, 1376. At the risk pf exposing my "ig-noranco" still further, aud thereby causing additional surprise to 'lie writer of the paper on the "Legends and Folklore of North Wales" in Blockiuood' ,s Magazine, I venture to reiterate my doubts as to the existence of the sin-eater in any' part of Wales. Like every other country, the Principality had, and still has, her superstitions, but that of the sin-cater does not apoc-u- to be among them. Since the appearance of my former letter in the Academy (November 13), I have made all the enquiries I could into the subject, with the view of ascertaining whether such a personaghas, or ever had, a local habitation and a name'' among us. I have spoken to many and corrrspondcd with several persons who arc known to have paid attention to the customs and traditions of the country and the sum of their communications it, without any exception, that the superstition of the sin-eater was as novel to them as it was to me. The writer points to Llandebie as the place where the custom prevailed as late as 1847, refers me for confirmation to a statement made by Mr. Matthew Mogg-ridge at the annual meeting of the Cambrian Archmological Association held at Ludlow in 1852, and is "surprised" that I, who became connected with the Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1872, should not be mintitely acquainted with everything that appeared in that journal some twenty years previously. Whether I ever read the account of the Ludlow meeting 1 can- not say but if I did, every trace of Mr. Moggrirlge'a revelations had been effaced from my memory when I wrote my letter. The writer tells us that at the meeting of-the Cambrian archaeologists at Ludlow in 1852, Mr. Moggridge cited a case of this superstition as having occurred within five years at or near Llandebie, in the hill-country of Carmarthenshire." Mr. Moggridge said no such thing, and it is hardly fair to make him responsible for sentiments which he never expressed. The description of the sin-eater given by_Mr. Moggridge is taken from Aubrey and the following- are his words in reference to Llandebie, as reported in the Archaeologia Cambrensis, the organ of the Association "In Carmarthenshire, not far from. Llandebie, was a mountain valley.where, up to the commencement of the present century, the people were of a very lawless character. There the above practice was said to have prevailed to a recent period, and going thence to those parts of the county where, from the establishment of works, and from other causes, the people had more early become enlightened, he found the more absurd portions of the custom had been abandoned, while some still remained. Thus near Llanon, within twenty years, the plate, salt, and bread were retained; (and, indeed, very generally), only the plate and salt." Out of ttns statement the author of the article makes five years and by that process brings the custon down to 1847. Mr. Moggridge, in a letter dated the first da:y of the present year, tells me tha.t he does not remember anything that gives a date," an 1 adds that the only written account of the sin. e Ltcr" from personal knowledge is that of Aubrey, de Gentilisine. Aubrey, if 1 may rely on the extracts given in the Academy, does not say that he was eyewitness to the performances of the sin-eater in any part of Wales, and therefore, according to Mr. Moggridge, no one spealvs of it from personal know. ledge as having prevailed at any time in the Princi. pality and it will be borne in mind that I am writing of the Principality and not of the English counties. Bat let- us return to Llandebie, the locality in which it is asserted that the custom prevailed within the last thirty years. Mr. John Rowlands, a highly intelligent schoolmaster, author of a small volume of Historic tt Notes published about ten years ago, and at one time librarian to the late Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middle Hill, wrote to me on December 14 last in these words I opened the Llandebie School in the year 1850, and I lived there for many years. I knew all the parisioners, and the history of the parish its legends, customs, and traditions. And during the time I was there I attended many funerals, but never heard of the sin-eater in fact people there never give cakes at funerals. I know almost every parish in South vVales I collected all the legends, and made notes of the old customs for the late Sir Thomas Phillipps. If such a custom had prevailed I should have heard of it. I have no hesitation in writing that it is a glaring untruth." Letters to the same effect appeared in the Western Mail, which circulates very extensively in the Princi- pality, in the Aberystwyth Observer, and, I am told, in some other papers but iio one in reply has put in a plea in favour of the sin-eater. The Rev. Rees Evans, vicar of Llandebie, has favoured me with the following letter in answer to my enquiries, and I must crave indulgence on the part of your readers for inserting it without abridgment:— I duly received your letter of the 22nd ult., which contained such extraordinary statements in reference to a superstitiou, custom supposed and alleged to be prevalent in this parish, viz., the employment at funerals of a strange person called the sin-eater.' I have been the vicar of this parish for the last four- teen years and I have known this neighbourhood well for the last twenty-five years but I never heard till I received your letter of such a personage as the sin-eater.' However, with the view of arriving at the truth or falsehood of the statements made by Mr. Moggridge at Ludlow in the year 1852, which appeared subsequently in the Archaeologia Cambrensis, and with the view of satisfying my own mind on the sub. ject, I have during the last three weeks instituted searching enquiries in every pat t and hamlet of thia palish, as to the probability of there having ever existed here such a functionary as sin-eater and the result of my investigation in the matter is this:- that such a custom as that alluded to in your letter never prevailed, at least for several centuries, in this parish and neighbourhood. That is the candid opinion of all classes of persons with whom I had long con. versations while investigating the matter in question tor you. One intelligent old man, an octogenarian, whose ancestors had lived from time immemorial in this parish, told me that such a custom in his opinion, could not have prevailed here at least for the last, two hundred years; or he would have heard of it from his father or his grandfather, who lived to a. great age. Therefore, from ail the enquiries that I have made, my candid opinion is that the statements which were made by Mr. Moggridge cannot be sub. stantiated by any reliable authority or proved by any crediole evidence." Such are the results of my enquiries, and yet we are asked to believe that the sin-eater carri3d on his nefarious profession in the neighbourhood of Llandebie until within a little more than a quarter of a century. The plate and salt mentioned by Mr. Moggridge as being still seen in some parts have no connection, or at least no necessary connexion, with the sin.eater, and much more satisfactory reasons are given for their employment. They are not uncommon, I understand, among Roman Catholics at the present day. The whole story of the sin-eater appears to rest on the shoulders of Aubrey, and, as we have just seen, he does not state that he saw any performance of the custom among the Welsh people. Those who only retail his statements need not detain us. I leave it to others to judge what amount of credibility is due to so credulous a person as Aubrey in any case in which superstition plays a part. If we put implicit belief in what he says about the sin-eater, whether in Eng- land or out of England, I do not see how we can consistently refuse his evidence as to ghosts, spectres, witchcraft, and similar subjects, about which he is so eloquent. In conclusion I would remark that if the custom uniier noMoe ever existed in. Wales, it is somewhat strange if not surprising," that the discovery of it has be: n exclusively confined- to thoso who are ignorant of the language of the natives, and are but slightly acquainted with the country. D. SILVAN EVANS.

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CENTRAL WALES TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.