have deserved. And the said James Skidmore bindeth him by these present letters to serve duly and truly with his said archers the said Sir James during all the said time, and to make with them watch and ward in all places and at all times when he shall be reasonably required and to keep them in justice, and from robbing and pillaging of the countries in obedience to the king and of his true people and subjects there within; and to obey at all times such cries as shall be published and proclaimed by the ordonnance and command of my said lord the Duke. And in case the said James Skidmore on his part well and truly keeps, observes, and fulfils all manner of covenants and conditions aforesaid in form abovesaid, the said Sir James granteth by this indenture that then an obligation of a hundred marks in which the said James Skidmore is bound to the said Sir James, be void and of no strength; and else the said obligation shall abide in full force and virtue. In witness whereof the parties aforesaid changeably to these indentures have set their seals the 14th day of January, the 19th year of the reign of King Henry the Sixth." The people of Gwentland adjoining this part of Herefordshire were in ancient times celebrated for their skill in archery, and the men of Archenfield, in which district Kenchurch probably was comprehended, were renowned for their valour in war; but that they produced mounted bowmen showed a degree of skill that might not have been expected.

It remains now to notice the family of Owain Glendwr, and his pedigree runs thus:

Grufydd Vychan of Glyndwrdwy and Elena, d. of Thos. ab Llewelyn
ab Owain ab Grufydd ab the

Cynlaeth.

Lord Rhys.

Thus his direct descent was from the princes of Powys and through his mother from those of South Wales. His boast, however, was to be representative of the princes of North Wales which made him assume the arms of the last Llewelyn. pedigree under such circumstances is as follows:

His

Catherine Philip ab Ivor, Lord of Iscoed, co. Cardigan.

I

Eleanor goch, Thomas ab Llewelyn ab Owain

d. and h. ab Grufydd ab the Lord Rhys.

2d Husband.

Elena=Grufydd Vychan of Margaret=Sir Tydyr ab Gronɔ.

Glyndwrdwy and
Cynllaeth.

Owain Glyndwr Margaret, d.

Meredydd

Margaret, d. to Davydd
Vychan ab Davydd
Llwyd.

of Sir Davydd
Hanmer, Knt.

Judge of the
Common Pleas.

ab Tydyr.

John Scuda

Sir Owain Tydyr Queen Catherine, relict of King Henry V.

more of Kenchurch, &c.

James Scudamore.

Edmond Earl of
Richmond.

Margaret d. of John
Duke of Somerset.

Jasper, Earl of Pem

broke, beheaded in

Hereford, 1460.

The arms assigned by Glover in 1585, to Owain Glyndwr, are those mentioned in Vincent's pedigrees as belonging to Madoc Creyol, but the publication of his great and privy seals prove that he assumed those of Llewelyn ab Grufydd the last prince of Wales, viz. quarterly gules and or, four lions passant counterchanged; and that the supporters were on the dexter side the dragon of Cadwalader and on the sinister the lion. The throne of this prince exhibits great taste; a back screen of gothic tracery with a highly enriched canopy, has drawn across the front of it a splendid piece of drapery, probably of cloth of gold, powdered with red lions, which is held up on each side by demi-angels. Each of the arms of the chair is made to represent the front half of a wolf, and the footstool is composed of two lions placed back to back on an hexagonal pedestal. The prince is exhibited as sitting in royal robes, holding in his right hand a sceptre, but with his head uncovered and his beard divided into two points.

On the other side of the seal, Owain appears on horseback, in armour such as described by Juvenal des Ursins, excepting that he wears the tournament helmet, which is surmounted by a coronet and his crest of the dragon, which last again appears between the horse's ears. His lower limbs are in plate, but his haubergeon of mail is nearly covered by a tight jupon with loose sleeves. In his right hand is his sword, and over his left arm his shield, charged with his armorial bearings, which likewise adorn the caparison of the horse.

These seals, the legend on the greater being OWENUS DEI GRATIA PRINCEPS WALLIE; and on the smaller SIGILLVM OWENI PRINCIPIS WALLIE, are appended to the two instruments dated

1404, relating to the supply of French troops, preserved in the Hotel Soubise at Paris. Juvenal des Ursins, a contemporary, under that year, in his Histoire de Charles VI., thus describes the transaction. Depuis la mort du roy Richard, qui estoit fils du vaillant prince de Galles, les Gallois faisoient guerre aux Anglois. Et envoya le prince de Galles en France devers le roy, pour avoir argent et du harnois et aide de gens. Dont le roy fut content et luy envoya au beau bassinet bien garny, un haubergeon, et une espée. Et au surplus dit aux messagers, que tres volontiers il l'aideroit et conforteroit, et luy envoyeroit gens. Et pour y aller ordonna le Compte de la Marche, de son consentment, le quel assembla navires et gens, et trouva soixante et deux vaisseaux d'armes garnis de toutes choses qui se rendirent tous à Brest en Bretagne." "After the death of King Richard, (II.,) who was the son of the valiant Prince of Wales, (Edward the Black Prince,) the Welsh made war upon the English. And (Owain) the Prince of Wales sent to the King of France in order to get money, armour, and the assistance of troops. The king was well satisfied with this application, and sent to him a handsome baseinet properly appointed, a haubergeon, and a sword; and moreover told the messengers that he would very willingly aid and strengthen him, and send him troops. He then ordered the Compte de la Marche to go into Wales with his acquiescence, who got together ships and warriors, and so mustered sixty-two armed vessels well supplied with every thing, which rendezvoused at Brest in Brittany."

In collecting data for the pedigree of the Scudamore family, every advantage has been taken of the copies in the British Museum, besides the authorities already quoted. In that of Owain Glyndwyr, Vincent's Wales, in the College of Arms, the Genealogy of King James I., by George Owain Harry, Enderbie's "Cambria Triumphans," and the Welsh pedigrees at Goodrich Court, have been duly consulted.

Goodrich Court,

26th Jan. 1835.

SAMUEL R. MEYRICK, K. H.

IN IMITATION OF "MES PREMIERS AMOUR," PAR LE BRUN.

THY sixteenth spring! sweet maid thy heart expands,
A lovely blossom, waken'd by the sun,
When the young Zephyrs wave their balmy hands,
And the soft dews with trembling kisses come;
Thy brow serene, touch'd with the blushing rose,
When the bright hue its tender blossom throws:
Thy beaming eye, its light undimm'd and pure,
Save that love's spirit throws its languor there;
Thy voice more sweet than tones of Orphean lyre,
That kindle love beyond the soul's desire,
Whose accents, trembling, languishing, expire.

Z.

REMARKS ON THE ARANEA DIADEMA, OR GARDEN SPIDER.

THIS is one of the commonest spiders met with in gardens, fields, and woods, and which weave their geometric webs on trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants which rise a foot or two from the ground. They also take up their abode on open paling, or on buildings which have any projections that will admit their forming a web which shall be in free air, and at some distance from the face of the wall.

Their web is a regular and very curious fabric, and formed between three or four marginal lines. These boundary lines are first formed; the interior being afterwards filled up by radiating lines from a common centre, and concentric lines which connect the rays with each other, together forming the net-like tissue to intercept flies in their flight. There are some very remarkable circumstances observable in the spiders' commencement of this work; the upper horizontal line is first formed. This is done by the insect gaining the top of a leaf or point of a twig, and feeling all round whether the station be insulated, that is, unattached to any other twig or body in a horizontal direction. If she finds no obstruction, she seats herself on the highest point of her station, and ejects from one or two of her spinners a line or lines which float away before the wind to the distance of one or several feet. This line she keeps, as sailors would say, "paying away" till she finds it has got entangled with or attached to some opposing body. Satisfied of this, she ventures to cross the space between, emitting in her progress another line to strengthen the first, and to prevent her falling to the ground should the first give way before she gets across to secure it. If the line hangs slackly it is curious to observe with what address she tightens it. Running down to the bight, as the sailors call it, she belays or fastens another line, and returns straining hard upon the first, draws up the slack by means of the last fixed line, carrying both to the second station and securing them there. She has now got a safe bridge from one station to the other, and beneath this she intends to weave her web. This she generally finds most convenient to do at one of the ends, and therefore her object is first to enclose a triangular space of sufficient size to contain her web within it. This space is quickly enclosed by the insect running down the interior side of one of the abutments of her bridge fastening a line as low down as she thinks fit, and rising where she descended, spinning out and holding the new line in one of her hind feet during her ascent, proceeds along the bridge and at a proper distance from the side, draws it tight and makes it fast. Thus the insect has formed a triangular area in which to form her web; and this she seems to survey, by once or twice going round the bounds, and filling up the acute angles as she passes by cross lines. But she has to find where the