whence the expanse of Caermarthen bay and the movements of any piratical barks might be observed. The spot bears the name to this day of Sir John's Hill. I shall close this notice of Sir John Perrot's transactions with extracts of an ancient document, preserved in a very extraordinary manner, in which he is frequently mentioned. About five years before the attainder and conviction of the knight, it appears that an inquisition was taken by jury of the state and profits of the lordship of Laugharne. When Judge Powell became possessed of the demesne he probably obtained an official copy of this document from the records of the Exchequer. On the house at the Broadway being pulled down, the library of Sir John Powell was removed to an adjacent barn, whence the books and papers were afterwards conveyed in a cart. The survey of the lordship of Laugharne dropped from the vehicle, and for some time lay unregarded on a dunghill, where it was found by an inhabitant of the town, in whose possession it now is. It is somewhat stained, but is still perfectly legible.

The more material portion now finds a saving refuge in the pages of Sylvanus Urban.

"The county of Carmarthen. The Castle and Lordship and Mannor of Tallaugharne, alias Laugharne, with the members. A booke of the survey of the said lordshipp, made by the oathes of the parties undernamed, the second day of October, in ye xxxvii yere of the raigne of our soveraigne Lady Elizabeth, according to certain articles given them in charge, by Thomas Hanbury, Auditor, and Robert Davye, Receiver, and others her Majesty's Commissioners for that service." Here follow the names of the Jury," James Pretherech, armiger," and eighteen others.

"The Castle of Laugharne.-The same is situate upon the south side of the Towne of Laugharne and adjoining to the same, the chief prospects whereof are towards a creek that floweth from Seavern close to the said castle, and 3 miles

higher into the land. At the entry wherof, from the said towne, is a fair gatehouse, having on it two lodgings, from which goeth a wall eastward, along the garden aftermentioned, compass-wise to the pyle itself, and from the other side of within which is an utter court of ffower the gate-house westward the like wall; hundred and three yards compass. The castle or pyle itself hath at the entrance into it a strong new gate, over which are faire chambers with lights of stone hewed towards the said utter court, the whole building of which castle is contrived compass wise from the said entrance, about a little inner court of flower score and ten yards in compass, in the middest whereof is a very choyce fountaine,* with a stately round staire of hard lime stone wrought, into a faire halle; at the upper end where of and a porch over a parte thereof leading is a great dyning chamber, and within the whole building a great number of lodgings and offices faire and fitt for such a pyle.

"The same hath been a very ancient castle, but utterly decayed till about xiii yeares past, when Sir John Perrot did re-edify the same, and almost fully finished it, but now many of the windows as well within as without moulder away by force of the weather and badness of the stone, and the whole castle by reason of the bad building thereof (without excessive charges), is like within a few years to run to utter ruin again.

the

The burrowe (borough) of Laugharne. First, there is a gardent without court-wall of the castle, containing by estimation an acre, consisting of vii burgages and a half parte lately built. The towne of Laugharne we finde to be a corporation, and graunted by one Guydo de Bryan the younger, in King John's dayes, being 300 yeares past, then being Lord Marcher of the said towne and lordship of Laugharne, having Jury Regale (Jura Regalia)‡ in himself, which appeareth by his deed grant unto the burgesses of the said towne of Tallaugharne, as well for the government of the corporac'on aforesaid, as also free commons of divers lands there within the libertyes of the said towne of Tallaugharne, to the number of 400 acres, as by auncient custom out of time and mind the burgesses and ffreeholders of the said towne now holdeth and keepeth in

pidgeon house* is now ruinous and ready to fall to utter decay.

Kifficke (Cyfig) Park impaled, containing four myles three quarters compass, every myle 1800 yards, wherein is by estimac'on 300 acres, whereof we find of copses and which we value each acre groves 12 acres, of ye said copse and groves to be worth xiiis. iiiid. for the wood; also, we find one other parcel of timber trees of 100 years growth or thereabouts, which we value every tree, with bark, top and lop, to be worth 4. Silly† ground, heathes and ffurzes, the number of c. 1111**.11. (182) acres, which we do value ye aforesaid grounds to be worth per ann. 61. 138. 4d.

On the foregoing document the following observations may be made. The honest burgesses of Laugharne have had no great reason in subsequent times to congratulate themselves for having alienated their land of Maen y cors, granted to them by the charter of Sir Guy Brian to Sir John Perrot, which transfer, by the bye, it appears was not effected without opposition on the part of some of their body. The land was a portion of that fertile alluvial tract Laugharne Marsh, on which considerable stock of cattle are yearly fattened. For 300 acres thus conveyed, Sir John Perrot assured to the burgesses of Laugharne one annuity or yearly rent of 9l. 6s. 8d. for ever. The Crown resuming possession of the lordship of Laugharne, probably after the conviction of Sir John Perrot of treason, the above rent of 91. 6s. 8d. long remained unpaid. I found among the muniments of the corporation, however, two records that successful application had been made by the burgesses for its recovery. One is an order of the Court of Exchequer of the time of James I. much defaced, for the future payment of the said rent of 91. 6s. 8d. to the burgesses for ever, barring, however, any claim by them for arrears.

Another order of the Court of Exchequer, dated 1 July, in the 5th year of the reign of Charles II. is to the same effect. I could not learn that the rent is now received, and the humble corporators of Laugharne console themselves with traditions of their former valuable possessions, and of the lamentably lapsed position of their claims; vague complaints, chiefly, perhaps, arising from the innovations made by Sir John Perrot.

The lord of Laugharne renders, I believe, a small quit rent to the Crown, the demand of which for many years lay dormant. The boundaries of the lordship are perambulated every three years by the burgesses with much ceremony; the circuit is said to be upwards of twenty miles. A cart with a barrel of good Welsh ale, cwrw dda, from the malt of Mr. John David, "the merchant,"|| and a due proportion of cakes, keep up the spirits of the pedestrians fulfilling the terms of Sir Guy Brian's charter. The ancient fair, according to the survey, was held on the festival of the patron saint of the Church, St. Martin's day, November the sixth. In the ninth of William III. return was made to a writ of ad quod damnum, directed to the sheriff of Caermarthen by the Lord Chancellor, that it would not be to the prejudice of the Crown or others or of any market, fairs, &c. that Thomas Powell, Esq. his heirs and assigns, should hold a market at Laugharne on Tuesday in every week, or two fairs in each year, for the sale of all kinds of corn, grain, cattle, goods, mercery, and other merchandize; one fair to be held on the 8th of June, or if that day should be Sunday on the Monday ensuing, the other on the 17th September, with the same provision. The said Thomas Powell, his heirs, &c. to hold and keep the fairs as above, with a court of Pie Poudre, and to

receive all emoluments and advantages from liberties, customs, turns, tolls, picages, stallages, to the said court and fairs appertaining.* The market at Laugharne is held on a Friday under the town hall of the lordship, which has a clock-tower, cage, &c. attached. Friday was probably the customary market day from the time of the first incorporation by the Brians. On that day, as there are no butcher's shops in the town, that necessary avocation being exercised chiefly by publicans and small farmers, the inhabitants supply themselves with provisions.

Lansadornen, named in the record, is the hamlet and parish church of Llansadyrnin. The latter is seated on the high ground westward of Laugharne, and has its name from the apostolic pastor Sadyrnin, Bishop of St. David's, who died A.D. 832. One of the strongest and most irrefragable proofs that the Britons had a church quite independent of the bishop of Rome, is that both in Wales and Cornwall, many of their churches have derived their very names from the native pastors of the country. As Llan-Badrig, Llan-Deilo, Llan-Beulan, Llan-Elian, Llan-Jestin, LlanIdan, &c. &c. The Romanists, in establishing their supremacy at length over the British churches, frequently altered their designation, by affixing the names of saints from their own legendst. The parish of Llansadyrnin is a member of the borough of Laugharne, and both the churches are held by one incumbent.

The number of corporators are, I believe, about sixty (on that point I speak from memory), as I do not find it specified in my notes. Some of these succeed in senior rotation to the possession, for life, of small portions of land on Hugdon, a boldly elevated tract westward of the town. This lasting memorial of Sir Guy Brian's judicious bounty is highly advantageous to the promotion of industrious habits, and Hugdon is yearly crowned with the golden honours of Ceres: a very early proof of the utility of the allotment system.

The borough of Laugharne has had the good fortune to escape the quackery of innovation, which assumes that change must be good because it is change: too humble to invite ambition to seize upon their privileges--too equitable in their administration to afford grounds for impeachment-long may the burgesses of Laugharne cultivate their common fields, and toast in friendly commixture with their more elevated neighbours at the annual feast of their Portreeve, (from which hospitality a stranger was not excluded,) the ever-green memory of the bountiful Guido de Brian. A. J. K.

(To be continued.)

MR. URBAN,

IN the account of the family of O'Connell, printed in Burke's History of the Commoners, there are several statements which seem to demand a critical notice. The details we are there told, in a note, were derived from family papers, confirmed by historical references, and verified by accurate dates, and from a work entitled "Mémoires Généalogiques de diverses familles qui pretendent aux honneurs de la Cour."

It does not seem very manifest how family papers can be confirmed by historical references (unless by references is meant something extracted from, or confirmed by, public histories), nor by dates, which could be inserted as easily as "historical references." However, as the pedigree contains those "references" and dates, I shall presently examine them more particularly. In the mean time we may observe that the note goes on to state, that "the exclusion of Catholics from places of honour and emolument in their native land, forced the bold and aspiring among them to seek in foreign climes a more active and a more impartial sphere of action. Hence in foreign archives alone were to be found those vouchers of illustrious descent which at home would be memorials of spoliation and incentives to persecution." Here the existence of such vouchers in regard to the O'Connell

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descent in foreign archives is only insinuated. But, without presuming to doubt the fact, we may fairly wonder how the emigration of those aspiring persons should have commemorated in foreign archives minute facts which had previously occurred in Ireland. We may also be permitted to inquire where the before-mentioned work, entitled "Mémoires Généalogiques, &c." is to be found, and when and where it was printed? If the author belonged to a former generation he must have been a Kerry man, otherwise he could never have known that the O'Connells were so "pretending."

The pedigree, after stating in general terms the original history of the O'Connells, commences the line with Hugh O'Connell, who, we are told, was joined with his sons in a commission issued by Edward III. anno 1337, empowering them to reduce some refractory tribes in the county of Limerick. This was some time after the royal authority had been utterly extinguished in Kerry, the abode of this family, and, indeed, in all Munster, except among a few families of English surname. Strange to say, too, the rolls of Chancery contain no mention of the fact, though it was usual to enroll all such commissions.

The son of this Hugh we are next told was long at hostility with his neighbours, the Geraldines, in defence of his possessions. In other words, although the general history of Ireland and the topographical histories of the south, make no mention whatever of the deeds of this family, nevertheless this individual was at war with that mighty peer the Earl of Desmond, who successfully threw off the yoke of the kings of England. He married too a great lady, the daughter of O'Brien, prince of Thomond, yet this little fact is passed over in the elaborate account of the O'Briens published in Lodge's Peerage, which, doubtless, contains every authentic particular recorded of that great family.

Jeffrey, his son, we are told, had an order on the Irish Exchequer for thirty marks. Now, though such orders were invariably enrolled, we find no trace of this one on the records. We are next told that Richard II. retained this Jeffrey near his person. This is really too bad. If we consider

the manners of the native Irish at this time, we may be tempted to make the profane inquiry whether the king kept Jeffrey muzzled.

Jeffrey's son Daniel, it appears, entered into a treaty with the Earl of Desmond, that is, with the lord and master of all Kerry, on whom even the lords Kerry and the M'Carthys were dependent. Perhaps some of your correspondents could favour us with a copy of this treaty.

The succeeding particulars being of a similar character we shall pass them over, until the year 1550, when Edward VI. appointed Morgan O'Connell High Sheriff of the county of Kerry. It happens unluckily that the Earls of Desmond, as earls palatine, alone had power to appoint sheriffs. This is candidly remarked in a note by the compiler; but the only inference he draws from it is that "the royal appointment was of course the superior dignity." It seems never to have struck him that the statement must be a fiction. We cannot, indeed, distinctly state it to be such, as the Chancery rolls of this period have not been printed; and we are left to speculate on the probable degree of harmony which prevailed between the two sheriffs, especially in their military capacity, at that time the most prominent in the office of sheriff.

I shall not occupy your columns with any remarks on the rest of the pedigree, which is of the same character throughout. There is one note, however, which must not be passed over. It states that a particular part of Mr. O'Connell's property is "free from all chief imposts or crown charge, a very unusual circumstance, and demonstrative of the antiquity of possession." I do not understand the force of this last passage. It strikes me that one of the O'Connell family, or any other person possessed of sufficient cash, might have purchased such a property if it were to be sold. Candour requires that facts should be directly stated if they be facts.

The name of O'Connell or Connell is very widely diffused in the south of Ireland, and it is worthy of remark that the same christian names, such as Jeffrey, Daniel, &c. are very prevalent among all of the name. A similar remark may be made of other Irish