Transcribed from the 1828 John Cox edition ,
DESCRIPTIVEOF
LIFE IN WALES:
Interspersed with Poems.
BY T. J. LLEWELYN PRICHARD.
Mae llevain mawr a gwaeddi
Yn Ystrad Fîn eleni
A cherrig nadd yn toddi ’n blwm
Rhag ovn Twm Shôn Catti.
In Ystrad Fîn this year, appalling
The tumult loud, the weeping, wailing,
That thrills with fear and pity;
The lightning scathes the mountain’s head,
The massy stones dissolve like lead,
All nature shudders at the tread
And shout of Twm Shôn Catti.
ABERYSTWYTH:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY JOHNCOX.
1828
The popularity of Twm Shôn Catti’sname in Wales. The resemblance of his character to that ofRobin Hood and others. An exposition of the spuriousaccount of our hero in the “Innkeeper’s Album,” and in thedrama founded thereon. The honor of his birth claimed bydifferent towns. A true account of his birth andparentage.
The preface to the once popularfarce of “Killing no Murder” informs us, that many afry of infant Methodists are terrified and frightened to bed bythe cry of “the Bishop is coming!”—That theright reverend prelates of the realm should become bugbears andbuggaboos to frighten the children of Dissenters, is curiousenough, and evinces a considerable degree of ingenious malignityin bringing Episcopacy into contempt, if true. Be that asit may in England, in Wales it is not so; for the demon of terrorand monster of the nursery there, to check the shrill cry ofinfancy, and enforce silent obedience to the nurse or mother, isTwm Shôn Catti. But “babes and sucklings”are not the only ones on whom that name has continued p. 2to act as aspell; nor are fear and wonder its only attributes, for theknavish exploits and comic feats of the celebrated freebooter TwmShôn Catti, are, like those of Robin Hood in England, thethemes of many a rural rhyme, and the subject of many a villagetale; where, seated round the ample hearth of the farm house, orthe more limited one of the lowly cottage, an attentive audienceis ever found, where his mirth-exciting tricks are told andlistened to with vast satisfaction, unsated by the frequency ofrepetition: for the “lowly train” are generallystrangers to that fastidiousness which turns, disgusted, from thetwice-told tale.
Although neither the legends, poetry, nor history of theprincipality, seems to interest, or accord with the queasy tasteof our English brethren, the name of Twm Shôn Catti,curiously enough, not only made its way among them, but had theunexpected honor of being woven into a tale, and exhibited on thestage as a Welsh national dramatic spectacle, under the title,and the imposing second title, of Twm John Catti,or the Welsh Rob Roy. The nationality of the Welshresidents in London, who always bear their country along withthem wherever they go or stay, was immediately roused,notwithstanding the great offence of substituting“John” for “Shôn,” which called atonce on their curiosity and love of country to peruse the“Innkeeper’s Album,” in which this tale firstappeared, and to visit