Who are ye all! ye noisy train!
Be ye thieves, or honest men,
Tell us now what brings you here,
Or this intrusion costs you dear!
Ianto Gwyn then rejoins,
Honest men are we, who seek
A dainty maid both fair and meek,
Very good and very pretty,
And known to all by name of Catty;
We come to claim her for a bride;
Come, father! let the pair be tied
To him who loves her ever well:—
Watt still within, answers;
So ye say, but time will tell;
My daughter’s very well at home,
So ye may pack and homeward roam.
Ianto Gwyn exclaims, in resolute tones,
Your home no more she’s doom’d to share,
Like every marriageable fair,
Her father’s roof she quits for one
Where she is mistress: woo’d and won,
It now remains to see her wedded,
And homeward brought and safely bedded;
Unless you give her up, we swear
The roof from off your house to tear,
Burst in the doors, and batter walls
To rescue her whom wedlock calls.
Another of the bridegroom’s party then calls aloud, in a voice of authority,
Ho! peace in the king’s name, here peace!
Let vaunts and taunting language cease;
While we, the bridesmen, come to sue
The favour to all bridesmen due,
The daughter from the father’s hand,
And entertainment kindly bland.
Now the great Watt, the famous entrapper of moles, with airs mighty and grand, well befitting the dignity of the occasion—and however absurd our English brethren may term the custom, it is considered of serious importance with us—throws open the door of Catty’s dwelling, sallies forth to give the querists a warm welcome, and as a preliminary helps them to dismount. After taking a little more refreshment, consisting of newly-baked oaten cakes, with butter and cheese, washed down with copious draughts of ale, they all remounted, and were joined by those of the bridegroom’s party; the whole rustic cavalcade making their way towards the church. A motley assemblage, in truth it was, but withal picturesque, and agreeable to contemplate, for every face was happy; save when now and then a cautious damsel, mounted behind her father or brother, would exhibit a touch of the dismals in the length of her features, on discovering that the cwrw had any other effect but that of rendering her protector steady in his seat on the saddle. Almost every sort of animal, large or small, lame or blind, good or bad, seemed to have been pressed into the service, and reduced to the levelling system, and without regard to either size or quality, doomed to carry double.