Jones's History of the County of Brecknock. [Continued from page 669.] WE Confess that we have never been able thoroughly to satisfy our minds as to the origin of privileged trades in corporate bodies. munities were at different times granted. This account, which has been copied by one writer from another for these last two hondred years, is erroneous, though it is by no meaus improbable that the author from whom it is originally derived was correct. The charters granted to the inhabitants of this borough by the lords of Brecon have been briefly noticed; I have copies of most of them, but they do not appear to be sufficiently interesting either to the historian or the antiquary to merit insertion, especially as the substance has been already related. To induce persons skilled in trade and useful occnpations, to settle within the town, to supply the lords and their garrison with the necessa ries of food and raiment it is probable that these barons marchers granted other privile ges, exclusive of those mentioned in the above grants, the principle of which was a monopoly of the different articles in which they dealt, in preference to strangers and accidental or wandering traders, and even to the lower ranks resident in the town, for it appears, by certain documents in the corporation chest, that in the reign of Henry VIII. no chenser (the meaning of which word has been explained to be a villeyn, or person Was there nothing besides association for mutual defence which at first bound a number of individuals together? Did they assume privileges, and establish them by mutual compact, and perseverance We know, that a kind of understanding prevails, where no charter can be pleaded for the usage; and interlopers are effectually excluded, by an occult power, in dependent of any conveyance of authority from superiors. But, it is probable, that in former times, as at present, superiors felt the necessity of being on good terms with those whose services they desired; and while the vassals settled around the baron's castle for security, the lord of that castle, and his family, endeavoured to attract within their reach those who could supply them with articles not the imme-holding a vase tenure) should be permitted to diate produce of the soil. They promised, therefore, to deal with those who would settle in their town; and they stipulated for the same advantage from all who were under their influence. Thus mutual accommodation gave rise to agreements, which afterwards being reduced to writing became chartered, while the old families continued to claim the benefit of engagements contracted with their ances tors; and demanded from strangers desirous of establishing themselves, and car-dividually votes, not only for the better regu rying on trade among them, a premium which should be deemed proportionate to the hazard incurred of a reduction of profits by partition of business. This appears to account for the trades which have ever been deemed principal, in all cities; and for which the freedom of the place is ne occupy any principal craft, viz. baking, brew- in the general government of the town; for lation of their own companies or guilds, but Open markets contributed something owards checking the evil effects of this nonopoly, and periodical fairs still more: or there can be no doubt, but what the ommonalty in most places would keep Seir money unspent till the fair offered em the greater choice of goods. At resent, every town in the kingdom ffords such ample supply of necesaries, sát fairs have ceased to be a benefit, and re become little other than a nuisance. Mr. Jones, in describing the state of the rishes in this county, takes occasion to stice many particulars connected with em: such as old castles, bridges, fami5, and family seats. We cannot follow m through these; and, indeed, though me of them be curious, they more imediately interest the inhabitants of the unty. Yet we cannot avoid noticing a ntrast in husbandry, which, it might have en thought, Great Britain could scarcely ve afforded. Speaking of the parish of anddew, Mr. J. remarks, that from the earliest ages. On the surface of the mineral tract in the hundred of Crick Howel are frequently found half fused cinders, which have usually been deemed Roman; but the Welsh antiquaries attri bute them to the rude efforts of their own countrymen. Mr. Frere, of Llanelly, con siders these cinders as proofs, that the spots where they are found were formerly covered with wood, although, at present, there may not be a bush within a mile of them; because, says he, the ore was carried to the charcoal, rather than the charcoal to the ore. Very great improvements have, undoubtedly, been introduced since the time when every ancient Briton was a farmer, and-when he pleased, an ironmaster; and since the Romans, in the leisure allowed by the profession of arms, directed their attention to the labours of the forge. Even since the beginning of the last century, when this occupation could not be consi dered as in its infancy, says this gentleman, who wrote in 1807, The improvements have been infinitely greater than in double the space of time, prior to the year 1700: the extent and increased advantage of these augmented improvements may be better understood from the fol lowing comparative table of values or prices as taken from the books of accounts at the Lla◄ nelly works. 1711-12-13. A bushel of wheat. Do. malt.. Do. rye... Bag of coal at the pit Do. in the water clearing 0 60. 0 4 0 1807. . 0 12 0 ..0 13 0 4 4 little if any sold here 0 0 2. 006 ... 0 0 .0 0 3 25 8 .0 36 2.. .0 3 6 Sa man of science 0 3 6, to 0 4 0 O from a guinea to 4 O 0... gl, or 10 0 0 Within this small precinct may be seen cimens of the best and the worst husbandry the county of Brecon. On the right side the road from Brecon to Hay, at the disice of about two miles and a half, are lands erron with bushes and brambles, and so 1 of bogs that a heavy beast can hardly stand them in the winter time, though there is nfficient fall for draining them; and though th this labour, and at an expense comparaely trifling, when the profit of the imwement is considered, they would produce two to three pounds an acre, while on 1other hand, adjoining the village of Lland#, we see a farm, which, within a few ars back, was little better than a wilderness, averted into a garden, repaying the cultivain rational pleasure, and returning his penditure, with an annually increasing inest. Upon a common, within this parish, ne years back, was dug up what appeared be a valuable species of marl, which mixed th lime would be an useful addition to the anures here laid on, but it seems that it was ther destitute of a sufficient quantity of sanaceous matter, or the discovery was not llowed up by perseverance and experiments, rit has hardly ever been tried, nor has the bour or ingenuity of man found any other the subterranean treasures of nature, within is parish, except here and there a few quar-fold; (the rent being formerly £20: now sof hard and durable stone for building. What woulda Norfolk farmer say to this? The mineral productions of this disnct are valuable; and the iron mines, pecially, appear to have been wrought VOL. VI. [Lit. Pan. August, 1809.] A mason not in constant work o 1 Rent of coals and mine works per annum. Swansea. .. 20 0 0.... 2,000 0. ... 5 190 550 to 5 10 Do. bar iron at the forge. 16 10 0...... 16 0 b Retail do. per pound.... 002. ....00 9 Make of the furnace per week 20 tons. From 50 to 55 tons The forge made per month 11 tons .... 40 tons. From this statement we infer, that while the price of necessaries of life, and of labour in consequence, have been doubled or trebled, and the value of the mines (and collieries) have been increased a hundred £2,000), yet, by the increase of skill employed in the manufacture, the price of the produce is nothing raised. We consider this as an instance well deserving the attention of the politician. The manu2 G portrait, (a plate by Vertue) Sir David Gam, who, though famous in English history, does not bear the best of private characters, and the family of Harris, of which we are favoured with the fol facture is in few hands; the operations, distinguishes Dr. Price, by giving his are not difficult; the money-rent is a clear statement; the increase of expences is undeniable: yet the commodity is sold at its former price. Is it possible that SKILL alone should be a counteracting principle so powerful as to compensate the opelowing notices : rations of somany and heavy disadvantages? Does this obtain in any other of our manufactures If it does, of what immense importance is the education of our workmen, and the direction of their early years to emulation and industry! The present house of Tregunter was built between thirty and forty years ago, by the late Mr. Thomas Harris, who purchased the estate, and was devised by him, together with the bulk of his property, to Mrs. Hughes, the only daughter and heiress of A singular disposition of property, yet his elder brother, Joseph Harris, who at not a sale of it, is related by our author present resides there. The history of the three brothers, Joseph, Thomas, and Howel in reference to the lands of Gwenddwr. Harris, is worthy of attention. They were If he be right in his conjecture that it of three different and much differing avoc was to serve election purposes, it shews tions, yet every one of them excelled or to what lengths Opposition proceeded, distinguished himself in his pursuits. The and the ingenuity to which it had family was originally of Caermarthenshire, recourse on such occasions. The diffi- but settled at Talgarth about the year 1700; culty of ascertaining the true heirs is not they were certainly not opulent, but I am likely to be diminished by lapse of time. inclined to think above indigence, by their intention of bringing up the youngest soa It is very remarkable, that nearly the whole of to the church. Of Joseph Harris, the this parish is held by leases at a nominal rent, eldest, who married one of the daughters commencing generally 4th and 5th Philip and heiresses of Thomas Jones of Tredustan, and Mary, made to different persons, by whose talents were highly respectable and James Gunter of Abergavenny, Esq. William indeed preeminent, we inust be content Gunter of Porth-y-parc, in the same county, with the information received from the mo Esq. and Ryd-derch ap David ap Ryd-derch,nument in the church. Although he wrete of Newton, for one thousand years; what their title or what their inducement was for granting those leases is not known: probably they derived the property from the marriages of their ancestors with three heiresses, and took fines nearly equal to the value of the fee for these demises, in order to give the present possessors a right to vote in the election of a representative for the county. It has been frequently in contemplation to procure conveyances of the fee, and the lord of the manor has been absurdly supposed to be capable of granting them, but the legal estate subject to the term (durable as it is) is certainly in the heirs-at-law of Gunters and Rytherch. The parish forms a parcel of the great para mount lordship of Cantreff Silyff, the descent and transfer of which property appear in my first volume; the other constituent parts, or mesne manors within it, will be more properly noticed when I come to Llangeoed, the residence of the present lord, who perhaps has not met, since he came into the possession of it, with so singular a bequest as that in the will of Roger Jones of Yniswy, in this parish, in 1704, who gave his timber to be fallen for fifty years, then next to come, to the lord of the manor and the poor of the parish: ? Mr. Jones favours us with notices of any eminent men, among whom he several astronomical and mathematical trea tises which are highly thought of, and though he hell a respectable situation undet government, I believe, in the Mint, and was estecmed by the great and the learned in his day, no biographer has written his life, no anecdotes of him have been preserved, or his virtues or talents recorded, further than they appear in his works, which in general are anonymous; indeed, that modesty which was so amiable in him seems to have descended, and to have generally pervaced the neighbourhood where he was born, for after all the inquiries I have made with respect to him, instead of learning any particulars of his life, I have received only general encomiums, and empty praise. Ian much hurt that this self-taught philosopher, who was an honour to the county of Brecca, should pass thus almost unnoticed, but we blame lies not with me, for it seems it wai destined that "his reward should be in heaven only.” Thomas Harris was a tradesman, whe settled in London, and acquired a very hand. some fortune by his industry and attention to business, a great part, of which he owed, however, to the following humorous ad venture:-The late Mr. Chase Price, M. Rigby, Mr. Forrester, and some others of the fraternity of the bons vivants, had bete fter which he told them he knew the master a rude natural ledge, where the hand of art has never ventured to exercise itself, and not more than three or four feet in width; but with all this apparent danger about it, it is a common way both for men and cattle, who frequently pass under Cilhepste cascade as a shorter cut to some of the neighbouring hamlets." The other embellishments are antiquities, maps, and views of places; coloured coats of arms, and other illustrations, for which the gentlemen of the county and of the principality are obliged to our author. keeping it up until day-light, and until Mr. Harris began his morning's work, when they were amusing themselves with breakng the windows in his neighbourhood. He mmediately joined the party in the sport, nd assisted them in demolishing his own; f the house they were attacking, that he vas a jolly fellow, kept an excellent bottle f wine in his cellar, and that he was deermined to compel him to produce it if they would partake of it; the invitation was acepted, the wine was good, and their as iate was discovered to be their host; his od-humour was never forgotten; from that vament his fortune was made; they not only We repeat our opinion, that the general apioyed him in his business themselves, but history of our island is under obligations ommended him to their friends and pro- to writers who treat on local concerns? him contracts, by which means in for it often happens, that to the corw years he was able to purchase the rect understanding of historical facts, a aves of Treganter, Trevecca, and a pro-knowledge of the circumstances of the rty surrounding them, to the amount of 9.000 per annum, or thereabouts; and re he retired to spend the remainder of his isin otio cum felicate if not cum dignihe was Sheriff of Breconshire in 6; in his epitaph there is no exaggeration, pundeserved praise; he was a truly honest m, a good neighbour, a warm friend, and ibera! benefactor to the poor. Mr. Harris, the master-moneyer in the wer, was truly a natural genius and wish, with Mr. J, he had known more out him. To our author's account we uld add, that his turn for mathematical dies was discovered while he tended the ck; in the leisure of which he amused nself by drawing diagrams, &c. in : sand. A gentleman, who was accintally passing by, admired his talent, came his patron, sent him abroad to rfect his studies, and had the pleasure seeing him rise to eminence and wealth. is monument is attached to the Tower apel the inscription was written by intimate friend, the Rev. Cornelius amphreys, then chaplain there.. Among the plates, one of the most asing is the view of the waterfall of Thepste the stream of which, favoured the projection of a ledge of rocks, rances so far over te bed of the river, it when it is full visitors may walk under from side to side of the river, and be, Mr. Warner was, sheltered by the terfall from a shower of rain, which ppened while he was there. That traller describes it as "one unbroken sheet water of five or six and thirty feet. he road, says he, is nothing more than places where they occurred is necessary; and this is best obtained by provincial residents: not to say, also, that sometimes additional accounts may correct historical relations in essential particulars. On the whole, therefore, although county histories may certainly be deemed mediate neighbourhood, and although the of the greatest importance in their iminterest they excite is not extensively felt by the public at large; yet fidelity, minute them respectable in the eyes of the antiness, and research, will always render This character we firmly believe, attaches quary, the naturalist, and the statistic. to the volumes before us: but, they have in our estimation, a still further recommendation, as enlarging our acquaintance with a part of the British islands, from whence, if from any where, we may hope to glean a few notions respecting the manners, characters, and institutions of the earliest inhabitants. Our first acquaintance with the Britons is through the medium of foreign writers: this disadvantage nothing can compensate; for we cannot suppose that strangers and enemies were fully and accurately informed: they could not even distinguish truth from error; and therefore have transmitted to later ages a mixture of both. On what then may we rely in reading them? This perplexity is somewhat relieved by late publications which have originated among our brethren the Welsh: and for his communications on this subject, as well as on others, we desire Mr. Jones to accept our thanks. Observations on the Historical Work of the late Right Hon. Charles James Fox. By the Right Hon. George Rose. With a Narrative of the Events which occurred in the Enterprise of the Earl of Argyle, in 1685, by Sir Patrick Hume. 4to. pp. 400. Price 11. 1s. Cadell and Davies. London, 1809. THE immediate occasion of publishing this volume is stated by its author to be a desire to relieve the character of Sir Patrick Hume, afterwards Lord Marchmont, from imputations thrown upon it by Mr. Fox in his Historical Work, published after his death. Mr. Rose interests himself on this occasion, because he is under obligations to the late Earl of Marchmont; and because he received the family papers from that nobleman, in the character of his executor. He therefore had the proper documents in his possession for clearing up certain mistakes of our late eminent statesman: and we conceive, that the idea, also, of shewing that his former political antagonist was not without his failings, even in studied composition, had some effect in lightening the labour of the task. is his nature: but, he is blameably short sighted, who, in contemplating time past, does not perceive that the bias of the human mind, (the creature of habit) strengthened, and called into activity by circumstances. It may long remain qui escent; but, favoured by opportunity, will exert itself with vehemence, and scatter all opposition from before it. What ever contributes to form habit, especi ally in persons called to elevated stations the commonwealth, deserves the notic of a real politician; and, as nothing tend more powerfully to this than the princi ples of Religion, whoever overlooks the principles, or underrates their effect, works intended for the public, does no discharge the whole of that duty, which is incumbent on him as a writer. The mere chronologist may give date and mention occurrences, but the histo rian should offer instruction: his reade should rise from the perusal of his pag with lessons of wisdom, derived fro examples; and with a feeling either veneration or of abhorrence, according the character, by the deeds of which has been interested. Not every reade can be, properly speaking, roused Mr. Rose very properly observes, that imitation of the most virtuous characte an historian should be extremely cautious exhibited by great men : the differe of affirming as true, incidents for which stations of life forbid it; yet every reade he has not indubitable authority:-that may be wrought on by sympathy; he ought to avail himself of every possible sympathy, if strongly excited, will exe mean of obtaining the most correct know- somewhat of a transforming power, an ledge of facts, as well as discrimination produce effects, proportionate to t of character: but in this diligence he vigour of the first impression. The e thinks the late Mr. Fox was deficient: hecessity of Religion to the wellbeing of the even doubts whether he availed himself of the works already before the public, as he might have done; and whether he has not sometimes described such works from general report, rather than after due consultation. Being himself accustomed to official correctness, he has discerned a remissness in Mr. Fox's management of his materials and charges him with indulging a party feeling, which the author of these Observations deems worthy of reprehension. He is but a feeble statesman, who, when investigating the origin and course of political events, refrains from examining the influence of moral causes in the preparation, direction, and consequences of incidents, which compose the great historical drama of national actions. Very short-sighted is man, as to futurity: this human mind cannot be doubted: there be any principle more active the another, more constant in its activity more familiar and intimate at all time with its subject, it is Religion. But this like all others, has its extremes; as extremes little resembling each other except in the force of their effects, am in a power, only short of omnipotent. It would be a curious speculation examine the nature of that religion which the public voice of the nation de scribed as carried to an extreme unde the dominion of Cromwell, by compari son with that which domineered over the mind and actions of James the Second Cromwell, with his party, professed "t seek the Lord" every hour and every moment; James was every hour a every moment intent on the austerities |