Which may be thus translated:—
“Heaven for thee, Mary, will be open every hour.”
I have little doubt that this beam, as well as the other decorations of the roof of the Church, was brought from Llan Egwest, which it will be recollected was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
There is a beautiful half-length of our Saviour in the window over the altar, painted upon glass by Eginton, of Birmingham, with this inscription under it:—
“Nid fy ewyllys i, ond yr eiddo ti a wneler.”
S. Lau pen. 22, ad. 42.
“Not my will, but thine be done.”
I believe there are no other Welch inscriptions in the Church, among the many grave stones, tablets, &c. which abound; and yet service is performed in no other language, except on the second sabbath in every month, and on Good Friday. There are many English families now resident in Llangollen and its neighbourhood; and to those that are seriously disposed this is a great privation.
The Church is well served by the very worthy and pious Vicar, who resides at the Vicarage; yet, notwithstanding, there are four dissenting congregations in the town, viz.—Wesleyan Methodists, Whitfield or Calvinistic Methodists, Independents, and Baptists.
In the church-yard is a school, under which is a vestry-room, bearing this inscription:—“This school-house was built at the expense of the parishioners, having obtained the ordinary license, with consent of the Rev. R. Price, vicar, 1773.”
The customs of the orthodox Welch Church are similar to those in England, except in the following, viz.—that of bedecking the graves of the dead with shrubs and flowers; of singing before the corpse to the church; and the very annoying one of ringing a passing bell in the following manner:—On the day prior to the funeral the bells are tolled in a very quick succession of strokes; that is to say, twelve quick strokes on the first bell, and after a short pause, twelve on the second; and so on once round, the number of strokes on each bell, denoting the condition of the deceased. Thus, twelve strokes on each bell denotes the death of a married master of a family; eleven strokes the mother or mistress of a family; ten strokes an unmarried or young man; nine a young woman unmarried; six a boy; and five a girl. Then begins an incessant monotonous toll of the great bell, in minute time, which generally continues all that day until eight o’clock at night: it commences again at eight o’clock on the following morning, and does not cease until eight o’clock at night, except during the time of interment. The usage at the burial is also novel to an English observer. When the service in the church is concluded, the officiating minister goes to the steps of the altar, whereon a sort of wooden plate is previously placed; and the attendants and friends of the deceased immediately proceed to deposit money thereon in his presence, which is instead of dues. When the corpse is consigned to the earth, the clerk receives the donations of the people that are around the grave, upon the spade with which he is throwing the earth upon the coffin; and this is his share of the fees.
There is also an old and curious custom observed at Christmas, called Plygan, or Plygain, that is, “the time of night when the cock croweth; the morning twilight.”—On the morning of Christmas Day, the bells are rung as is usual to assemble to church, about four o’clock; and on their ringing about six o’clock, most of the parishioners assemble, some bringing candles, and the church is also lighted up. After the prayers (morning service for the day) are read, the congregation continue, and the minister also, hearing original carols in the Welch language, on our Saviour’s nativity. This time and custom were formerly much more seriously observed, when men believed