Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

TALLEY AiiBEY Visit of Cardiganshire Antiquarian society. Papers by Mr Willis Bund and Prof. Green. The members of the •quanan Society paid » vlslt Dro- Wednesday in last week, wh<« the pro oeech^ were of a raost «wjM. structive character • The K vicar of Llanilar, the secietary, assisted by Mr Edward Evans, J.F-. Aberystwyth (treasurer) had made most e°rayleta SngemeMs for the visit am. everything P1T1 Sisent started by a m G W.R. motor, and by the time Tlam was reached this was comfortably full Of members of the Society. At. Lam- peter the party had.increased u' much that it was witn some difoy sufficient accommodation couldJ*J°? The all m the road conveyances r to iournev of fifteen miles from Lampeter ™ Talley "wa» accomplished in four well-appo F e! brakes. On reaching Pump^t, the E party was met by General Sir J™4? t Iohnes V C who was accompanied bj that dist iuguished soldier. Lord ^antrhter Ladv Aileen Roberts. Sir Janies conducted the party through the beautify grounds of Dolaucothi. and Lord Egberts made himself exceedingly popula bonhomie." On the lawn close to the mansion, a photograph was taken of the mi tars and the house party. The latter ■ eluded with Sir James and Lady Hills Johnes and Mrs. Johnes, Earl.andOountMB Robwte, Lady Aileen Roberto, Mm• Singley, Miss Vio let Ra msay, a nd Miss Oldfield. Sir James Hills-Johnes in the name ot Lady Hills-Johnes, Mrs. Johnes and him- self* bade the party hearty welcome. He alluded to tfie most interesting *iel^ P held last year by the Carmarthenshire Society at Dolaucothi and the Ogofau and justed that the Cardiganshire Society would meet with the success which was attending its elder sister society in Carmarthenshire, of which he and the ladies were foundation mTheeRev. J. F. Lloyd, on behalf of the Society, thanked Sir James and Lady Hills- Johnes and Mrs Johnes for the kindness they had shown in permitting a visit to their his- toric mansion and grounds. They also telt more than doubly indebted to them for the opportunity they had afforded of meeting Lord Roberts.. The feelings of the company were voiced by enthusiastic cheering, and this having subsided, Sir James and Lord Roberts made rentable 'acknowledgments. Lord Roberts, in responding, observed that he had experienced some proud mo- ments in his life, but none so interesting as the present, when he found himself as an honorary archaeologist presuming to ad- dress many men learned in the history of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, to whose studies and researches into a wonder- fully interesting past he wished all possible success. Before leaving Dolaucothi, the Secretary approached Lord Roberts with a request that he should become a member of the Car- diganshire Antiquarian Society, jocularly remarking that it would cost him only five bobs." Lord Roberts readily assented, and his name was duly inscribed on the mtmoer. ship roll. The journey to Talley was then resumed, that place being reached by about 1.30 p.m. Here the party had the honour of being re- ceived by Sir James Drummond, Bart. Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire, and the Vic- ar of Talley. Lunch having beeft partaken of at the Edwinsford Arms, an adjournment was made immediately after to the AM8f;y grounds. The proceedings at the Abbey were presided over by Sir Jaitt&fDrummood, and among those present were the LMd Lieutenant of Cardiganshire and Mrs DMRO- Evans, Mr H. Meuric Uoyd (vice-president, of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society), Mr Frank Morgan, M.A., Blaenblodau; Miss AJj Tom secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer) Carmarthenshire Antiqusiriaa Society was also largely represented. The Chairman, in his opening address gave, a short historical sketch of the Abbey Although in Cardiganshire, he said, they had beautiful remains, vet thev had cez-Lairil- nothing to beat the Abbey of Talley When the Cambrian Archaeological Society visited thie abbey in 1892, they had then discovered interesting traces of the abbey. It had been founded by Rhys ap Gruffydd, and he longed to the Premons.tratensian Order. The nave originally extended beyond the cottages outside the churchyard into the gardens, and was four feet longer than the Abbey of Westminster. the other dimen- ns WHe in proportion. The ground covered bY the abbey occupied 25 acres. There were Tmree entrances. Three hundred pounds was spent in 1892 in excavating. They dug down roughly nine feet, digging up very heavy masonry which had fallen down and in which the mortar was harder than the stone. They came down to the tile upon which they were standing and found interesting caustic tiles, pieces of stained glass, and silver coins. Below the floor line of the nave they dis- covered 30 skeletons, all in a row. It was evidently the monks burial place. The stones of the abbey came from the adjoining hillside quarry. As they had no carts to convey them they were handed down hand to hand, and it took 12 to 15 vears to build An interesting fact was that Richmond slept there on his way to Bosworth MR. WILLIS BUND'S PAPER. The Rev. J. Francis Lloyd, the secretary, then read an interesting paper which had been prepared by Mr. Willis Bund, of Wor- cester, chairman of the Cardiganshire Quarter Sessions. Mr. Bund wrote:— The story of Talley Abbey from the histori- cal side has been so fully told by Mr. Henry Owen in his papers which appeared in Archiologia Cambrensis for 1893. that any attempt to go over the ground i> merely to tell a twice-told tale. Yet the information pu oil shed by Abbot Gasquet in his Register of English Premonstratensian Houses gives some facts that were not available to Mr vwen, and it may be not without interest to try to point out the bearing this information has on Talley in particular, and on South, Wales in general; especially as there are pomts as to which Mr. Owen states he is not able to give any satisfactory solution. These pomte are: 1. What was the original foundation of Talley ? 2. Why was a distinctly foreign religious order brought into South Wales? 3. How did the connection between Tal!"v and. Halesowen arise? 4. Who was the person described as the Abbot, of Talley On each of these, if not new light, at least new conjectures are possible. 1. Writers are not agreed 88 to what re- hgioiis order Talley originally belonged lJugdaie says it was a Benedictine House.' A :.18. in the Library at Corpus Christi Col- lege, Cambridge, says it was a Cistercian House. Turner says it was a Premonstra- tensian. That after 1209 it was Pre-mon- stratensian is clear, but it is not clear if it wy„s always so, this depends on the date when •+ on. and the person who founded it. There is nothing to positively fix the date, but all the probabilities point to the last ha f of the 12th century, unless it was originally a Betnedictine Efojse when its date might be earlier. But except the state- ment of Dugdale. that it was Benedictine. there is no evidence to shew this was ao. If as is usually said. Rhys the Great was the founder, it was almost certain it was not Benedictine, as no Welshman, certainly not Rhys, would found a-hottffe of an orcfer so hostile to Wales, and the Welsh, and so closely allied to the hated French as the Normans were called. Therefore, the Bene- dictines may be dismissed. It is not so easy try get rid of the Cistercians.- If Rhys was the founder, a Cistercian Abbev was the one h? woyld be mo t likely to found. The Cis- teraiflns came to W-les in 1130 when Neath founded, and th-s would make the date of the foundation of Talley somewhere be- tween 1130 and 1208. This last date is fixed by i charter of Kvig John to the Abbot and f r "vent "Ord'.r is Premorstraten.sis de TaWs- then of certain lands being <m-en to the House of the Welsh chiefs. If the founder was Rhys the Great, he died in 1197, so that the House must have been founded before that date, and on the present evidence, it doeSi not seem possible to get nearer to the date than somewhere in these 60 years, if the House was originally Cistercian. If it was originally Premonstratensian, the 60 years are narrowed to 50 years, as the Premon- stratensians began to come over here from France in 1147. Whichever order was there- fore the original one established at Talley, the date of foundation was the last half of the 12th century. If Rhys was the founder, it is not likely that he founded it before 1172, the year he submitted to Henry II. It would require some positive evidence that a welsh- I man in arms against the English King would I carry his piety so far as to found a House J of foreign monks who would be the allies of his enemies in a country where the foreign King had no post or garrison. There is no evidence that such was the case, for the grants of land might be made to the House to whatever order it belonged, but it is most improbable that a Norman Order of Monks would be introduced by a Welsh Prince, while he was at war with the English King. This inference, it is no more, would place the -date--of the foundation, if a Premonstraten- sian House, between 1172, when Rhys sub- mitted and 1197 when he died. It is, how- ,_eyer, by no means improbable that Talley was originally a Cistercian House. Situated between the two great Houses of that Order. Whitland and Strata Florida-it would form a valuable post in the struggle with the invader. If it was, and became, subse- quently, on the submission of Rhys Premon- stratensian, it would account for the perse- cuting zeal of the Abbot of Whitland against Talley as described by Giraldus, who hated the Cistercians with so strong a hatred that all he says against them requires confirma- tion, but the fact that Talley had become a Premonstratensian House would excite the sympathy of Giraldus on its behalf, and the persecution by the great Cistercian House of Whitland of the small House of the rival order, would give a splendid opportunity for shewing up the tyrrany of the hated Cister- cian. It is true there is no evidence of the original foundation being Cistercian, but there is the fact that it is not unknown in the history of the Premonstratensians that they absorbed Houses of rival orders. Halesowen, which became the paternal house of Talley, did swallow up a small religious house at Dodford, near Bromsgrove, which RUINS OF TALLEY ABBEY (From a sketch by Professor Tyrrell Green). was originally a House of Black Canons, con- verting it into a Premonstratensian House; so the absorption of a small House of a rival "Wa A practice not « a to the ° ttJe "remon&traw-'jusiai House in rt impos- as was Dodford changed from BlaUt Jistercian thTSere'is th» change was mad* ™ f0**?}*. uPon supposition and there is the tact that when first, we heai- tfolloy it was Premonstraten- sian, and so remains from 1208 to the dis- solution. There is no evidence on which the question can be carried further as to what the Order to which the original House be- longed. 2. On the second question, what led to the introduction of a foreign monastic order into Wales there is less evidence at pre- sent available • all that can be done is to indicate the direction in which further evi- dence may be sought. Speaking broadly, St. Norbert for his White Canons, adonted with a few exceptions the rule of the Austins or Black Canons, the chief points of diver- gence were that all, house of White Canons should be presided over by an Abbot, over the smaller Houses of the Black Canons, a Prior was allowed to preside. All Abbots were obliged to attend the General Chapter of the Order held every year at Premontre, and to pay every year a fixed rent to the Premontre House. This kept up the close con- nexion between the Picardy House and its offshoots, and prevented the smaller houses falling out of touch with the Order, as was the case in some of the small Houses of Austin Canons. There was another feature that may have been the reason for the introduc- tion of the Order into Wales. St. Norbert, in his original scheme, endeavoured to re- vive an early monastic idea that was one of the great features of Celtic monasticism, that the same manastery should have congre- gations both of monks and of nuns. What Bridger had had at Kildare Norbert pro- posed to have at Premontre, the double Abbey The revival was not a success, and after a very few years' trial, it ceased to be a part of the Premonstratensian system, be- ing, it is said, abandoned before the Order was introduced into England. Whether this is so or not, the knowledge that the White Canons were an Order who entertained the idea of reviving one of the great distinctive features of the ancient cqonasteries of the country, must have forcibly appealed to the Celtic mind. It is also quite possible, and, in fact. there is some slight evidence that it was so, that although the rule as to double monasteries was altered in 1127. the irre- pressible female was not ejected by a mere alteration of the Premonstre Statutes in a chapter held there. No new double house may have been created; in fact the estab- lishment of separate Houses for White Canon- esses in Lincolnshire and in Nottinghamshire shews this to have been so, but the presence of females continued in some of the Premon- stratensian Houses here for as late as 1316. A canon was then made in a general chapter of th& Order relating to the Houses in England, which would include those in Wales, forbidding sisters of the Order in houses in the Kingdom of England, who had been accustomed to go in and out of the Houses as other members, t.nd ordering that they should in future cease to do so. This Canon would seem to show that the custom of mixed monasteries survived in England long after its formal prohibition. It i- possible that this survival may have led to the establish- ment of the Order in'Wales. 3. The next point as to the connexion be- tween Talley and Halesowen is one of very great interest, and brings out strongly some I of the peculiarities of the Premonstraten- sians. The ordinary way in which a cell to a religious House was formed, was that a gift of lands was made to a house, and certain monks were .,ent out to cultivate land, and make what could be made of it. They estab- lished themselves then in a monastery when the rules and services of the House from whence they came were repeated, and then the cell became a permanent appendage to the other House. The Premonstratensians acted differently, they sent out a body of1 monks who established themselves where they could, and became affiliated to some House of the Order; not necessarily the House from which the colony came. They also, when it was desirable, changed their paternity, and thus became affiliated to other Houses. According to their rule, the only House to which they owed perpetual allegi- ance was Premontre. As members of that ,House, all the Abbots attended the general chapter held there. From that, there could 1 be no change; from the particular House to which they were for the nine affiliated there could be. Thus a baml of monks from a monasterv near Calais, came to Eng- land in 1147, and established the monas- tery of New house, which was the first. and should, according to ordinary rules, have been the chief House in England ot the Order, but for some reasons vVellbeck, which was not founded until 1103, became the head house of English Premon. tratensians, other houe5 changing their paternity and becom- ing affiliated to it. Talley was a house ot doubtful paternity. it b not quae uui W what house in England it was first supposed to be affiliated. In 1291. William, Aboot of i'remontre, wrote to Edward 1. asking for his help. He says the Church of Talley (Thalesken), of our order would, it had long been hoped, be a fertile religious soil, but from the evil ways of the inhabitants, and the sterility of the country, the dishonesty of the district, no fruit had yet appeared. The Abbot, therefore, requested the King to give to the Abbots of Newhouse and Hales- owen, who were about to vL-it Talley such help as would enable them to carry out their duty, so that evils, and evil-doers being re- moved, the Church might bring forth fruit, and rebels and blasphemers might be Drought into subjection. One result of this invita- tion was, that the paternity of ialley was temporarily transferred to Welbeck. I nfor- tunately, it doe", not appear from what house the transfer was made. The next year Abbot William confirmed in perpetuity to Welbeck the paternity of Talley. After enjoying the paternity of Welbeck for about a century, Talley made a further change in its paternity. In 1414 the Abbot of Welbeck by a deed which recited that the paternity of Talley had been made over in perpetuity to Welbeck by the Abbot of Pre- montre, made over the paternity to Hales- owen for ever. This deed is also said to be a forgery. Talley remained under the paternity of Halesowen without question for the next 60 years. Then Bishop Redman, who had been the Premonstratensian Abbot of Shap and was Bishop of St. Asaph, made a visitation of all the Houses of White Canons in this country, he having been nominated by the Abbot of Premontre as his vicar in England, and a general visitation being part of his duties as such vicar. On the visitation some dispute arose as to the paternity of Talley. The Bishop to settle the matter applied to the Abbot of Premontre to search the register and find out definitely in whose paternity it was, Abbot Hugh, of Premontre replied he had caused the most ancient of the registers of the Order at Premontre to be searched, u&)j on w ?_nd.had iffly^tet 0y^-y0^ Amiens (Ambienensis), but on account of the great distance between the two houses, the paternity had been transferred to Halesowen. The Premontre register con- tained no mention whatever of the paternity ever having belonged to Welbeck. Abbot Hugh, therefore, enjoined the Abbot of Welbeck from making any claim to it. For the 50 odd years that ensued to the dissolu- tion so far as appears the paternity of Hales- owen to Talley was not further challenged. The story is of interest, whether the docu- ments are forged or not, as it shews how lightly the claim to paternity in Premon- stratensian Houses was treated, and because it gives a possible clue as to where further evidence as to the foundation of Talley may be obtained. Until the history of St. John of Amiens has been worked up, it cannot be said that the sources of the early history of Talley are exhausted. Another point of in- terest in what made Talley, if it had any voice in its paternity, select Halesowen, when it changed from St. John of Amiens. That story raises a very curious and interesting bit of local history, but it lies rather out- side this Daner. 5. Who was "Christian Abbess of Talley?" Notwithstanding the doubtful character of the lady's origin, doubtful in the sense of the uncertainty of the existence of her alleged father, Gwaithfoed, and possibly the uncertainty of her own existence, it does not seem at all improbable that such a per- son as the Abbess of Talley existed, while it is difficult to adopt Archdeacon Thomas' idea that there was an earlier House of nuns at Talley before the Premonstratensian, especially as it is difficult to see of what order the nuns would be, at that date, or the more ingenious suggestion of Mr Edward Owen that Abbess of Llanllear is meant 1 a suggestion that ought to be true on: account of its ingenuity. One cannot help feeling that the existence of the expression f points to the fact of the early foundation of Talley, and that it was a Premonstratensian I House from the outset. If Talley was founded between 1140-1100 it might well be as has already been stated that it was a double monastery, and the Abbess was head of the female side. Indeed, the fact of the existence of the title, is one of those things that a Cambridge Professor used to call as to Scripture "undesigned coincidences that point to an early and a Premonstraten- sian foundation of Talley Abbey There is one other point that requires care- ful investigation, not merely on account of the light it may throw on the history of Talley, but also because it will probably give even further details & to the Welsh Pre- monstratensians, and that is the history of the small House in Monmouthshire of that FoeJ' Kynmar?h. If this and the story St. John of Amiens are carefully worked out, Mr. Owen's remark may then be true that there remains not much more to do towards the elucidation of the history of Talley Abbey." ARCHITECTURE OF THE ABBEY. Prof. Green, of Lampeter, in an address on the architecture of the Abbey, illustrated by diagrams, said: The plan of the church is of the Cistercian type. In its rectangular chancel and its range of chapels on the East of the transept it shows the peculiar features of a Cistercian Abbey Church, and exactly resembles Strata .1 ¡ Florida. How shall we account for this if we are right in assigning Talley to the Prenqjongtrafcansian Order?, Giraldus )Clam- brensis tells of the ejection of Premonstraten- sian Canons by the Cistercians in a certain PIace- The Canons appealed to Hubert,, Archbishop of Canterbury, and eventually regained their house. Now Hubert was Archbishop from 1198 to 1207, and the Pre- monstrat-ensian Canons referred to must be those of Talley since there was no other house of the Order in Wales. It appears, therefore, that, at the 'very time when this church was being erected there was a dispute for the possession of it between the two Orders, and for some time while the building was going on the house was in the hands ofthe Cister- cians. May not this account for the Cister- emn ground-plan of the Abbey Church at Talley ? At the Dissolution of the Monas- teries it was decided to use the Abbey Church for the parochial services, but as the whole church was much too large for the population and would prove too costly to maintain and keep in repair, walls were built within the church enclosing part of the choir and four bays of the nave, out excluding the transepts by blocking the North and South arches beneath the central tower. The rest of the building must speedily have fallen into decay, but the fragment around the central tower continued to be used as the parish church down to 1722, when even this was found to be too costiy a building to main- tain in sound condition. A new church was, therefore, erected to "-he North of the Abbey, where, though since much altered, it still I stands, and the stones of the Abbey were used for the new building. As a ruin the great church lingered on, gradually getting less, through being used as a quarry for structures in the neighbourhood, or through natural decay. It was in 1845 that the last con- siderable fall of masonry took place. There is now o little left, save the shell of the centra tower, that to attempt to re-construct the church from the mutilated fragments central tower, that to attempt to re-construct some pre-historic monster from some shat- tered bone, but from what we know of its history and through excavations conducted iinder the direction of Mr. Stephen Williams we are able to venture upon the task. The church was cruciform in plan and of great size, having eight bays to the nave one bay more than at Strata Florida. There were six chapels to the east of the transept, three to the north of the central tower and three to the south. A doorway gave access to the church in the N wall of the N. Transept, and near this may be seen the lower part of a spiral staircase leading to a passage which must have passed above the chapels of the N. transept and thence to the belfry. This passage may still be traced in the re- maining walls of the tower. In the S. wall of the nave are traces of doors which must have led to the cloister. The domestic build- ings at Talley were to the S. of the church, as at Strata Florida, their site, however, has long been occupied by other buildings and has not been excavated, so that their out- line cannot now be determined. Architectural Detail. We are told that in the excavations con- ducted here no carved stone-work of any kind was discovered. The building seems, there- fore. to have been quite plain; the walls of rubble plastered over. When the church was built (ie. at the close of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries) the pre- vailing style of architecture was the transi- tion from the round-arched Romanesque to the early Pointed style, or, perhaps, the earl- iest form of Pointed which is generally known as early English. Pointed arches were evi- dently used by the builders of Talley for construction, i.e., where there was any great weight to be supported. Thus the arches at the base of the central tower are pointed; so, too, probably were the arches dividing the nave from the aisles. Some of the small- er openings, however, such as doorways and windows may very well have been round- headed, a conjecture supported by the fact that the small belfry light still remaining in the east wall of the tower has a semi-circular head. Talley Abbey was evidently an example of what may be called the early Welsh Cathedral or Collegiate type, belong- ing to the same cass as the still complete churches of Brecon Priory, Llanbadarn Vawr, and St. Asaph Cathedral. The typical feature of thsse churches is the great area covered by the central tower. The enormous size of the tower at Talley may still be gath. ered from its ruins, it measures 38 feet across at the base and must have been in its proportions second only to the tower of St. Asaph. From what has been said it is clear that Talley Abbey must have been a very impressive church, though not, because of elaborate carvmg or rich adornment, but simply from its noble proportions and massive grandeur. Especially, as viewed from with. out, its tower must have stood out boldly like a great fortress, as though intended as a reminder to men for all time of where their true refuge and strength lay. Even now, as we gaze upon its battered ruins, we must be impressed by it and it3 message can scarce- ly go unheede:d:- Guardian and monitor of all our days! Workers in field, or going to the fair, Heard angel-voices chiming word on word And softest music borne upon the air, Called up their hearts to heaven and bade them praise The Tower of Hope Eternal—Christ the Lord. d A hearty vote of iliankth was accorded the Cbqii-jrvim. or the Rev. Robert Williams vicar of Llandilo. Mr. George Eyre Evans, Aberystwyth, sec. retary of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, was in attendance, and gave valu- able assistance. The Rev. J. Alban Pavies, vicar of Talley, also acted as guide, and pointed out the chief features of the Abbey before and after the meeting. At the close of the meeting a collection was made in aid of the West Wales Sana- torium at Alltymvnydd. On the return journey, the party drove through the grounds of Edwinsford, being un- able owing to lack of time, to accept the • ■ JI?vl^ation of Sir James Drummond to visit his mansion. The drive was continued ix> Alltyfynydd Sanatorium, where a splen- did concert was held, at which Earl Roberts and a distinguished company were present. Prof. Green said they had collected a sum of money at Talley for the Sanatorium, and money at Talley for the Sanatorium, and Alderman Edw. Evans, J.P., on behalf of the Antiquarians, handed to Dr. Adams, the medical superintendent, the sum of four guineas the amount of the collection at Talley Abbey. At seven o'clock, the journey was contin- ued to Lampeter. where, at 8.30, the party SA 5°Wn dinncr. a,t Black Lion Hotel. At the post-prandial proceedings speeches were delivered by Mr. Frank Lloyd, Lam- peter; Mr. Emery, of Wells; the Rev. J. Lloyd, Dr. Lloyd, Tregaron, Mr. John Rowlands, Professor Tyrrell Green, and Mr. Walter Davies, Lampeter. The return to Aberystwyth was made bv special motor train, leaving Lampeter at ten o clock. The excursion was a complete suc- cess in every way, and was thoroughly en- joyed by all who took part in it. It was to be regretted that for want of time, Messrs. Frank Morgan, M.A., and Geo. Evre Evans who have for some time past. made a close study of original manuscripts. especially with regard to Talley, could not lay some of the results of their researches before the gathering. In addition to the list given in a recent issue, the following have also been enrolled members of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society:-P.ev H. P. Thompson, Sevenoaks; Miss Williams, Lledrod Vicarage; Mr Wal- ter Davies, London House. Lampeter: Mr. Roderick Evans, Lampeter; Dr. E. Evans, Lampeter; Dr. Adams, Alltymynydd Sanato- rium; Dr E. C Davies, Lampeter: Mr D. F. Lloyd, Lampeter; Dr. Morgan Pontrhvdv- groes Mrs L. P Pugh, CVmei-e; Captain Mathias, Aberystwyth; Mr H. E. Wheatley, Aberystwyth; Dr. Powell, Newcastle Emlyn; Mr. Thomas Jones, Post Office, Tregaron; Lady Evans, and Mr Griffith Evans, Loves- grove; Mr J. M. Edwards, Lampeter- Mr. John Francis, Wallog; Mrs Owen, Capel Bangor Mr Osborne Jones Swyddffvnon Mrs. Davie-Evans, Highmead; and Dr. Hartwell Jones, Nutfield; Ladv Webley Parry Pryse, Princess Thurn and'Taxis, Mrs Loxdale, the Misses Lewes, Tyglyn Aeron and Mrs. Lloyd, Llanilar. The next gathering of the Society will bake place at Ooprrddan on the 29th S-Onte-mber, when Sir Edward and Lady Pryse will receive all the members tit) an "At EIome" after the meeting in the afternoon. Invitations will be sent ortt in due time.