II.) Sir John Wyun, of Rhiwgoch, in Merionethshire, and Watstay, now Wynnstay, in Denbighshire, Knight, afterwards Baronet, if he had not before this time succeeded to the Baronetage of his family.

Parliament at Westminster, 21st October, 1680. (32 Charles II.) Sir John Wynn, Baronet.

Parliament at Oxford, 21st March, 1680-1. (33 Charles II.) Sir Robert Owen, of Glynn, in Merionethshire, Porkington in Shropshire, and Clenenney in the county of Carnarvon, Knight.

Parliament at Westminster, 19th May, 1685. (1 James II.) Sir John Wynn, Baronet.

Convention at Westminster, 22nd January, 1688-9. Sir John Wynn, Baronet.

Parliament at Westminster, 20th March, 1689-90. (1 William and Mary.) Sir John Wynn, Baronet.

Parliament at Westminster, 22nd November, 1695. (7 William III.) Sir John Wynn, Baronet.

Parliament at Westminster, 6th December, 1698. (10 William III.) Hugh Nanney, of Nanney, (now Nannau,) Esq., Colonel of the Merioneth Militia.

1

Parliament at Westminster, 6th February, 1700-1. (13 William III.) Hugh Nanney, of Nanney, Esq., He died, and Richard Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq., was elected in his stead.

Parliament at Westminster, 30th December, 1701. (14 William III.) Richard Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq. He continued to represent the county in every succeeding Parliament until his death, upon 28th March, 1734.

Parliament at Westminster, 15th June, 1734. (7 George II.2) William Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq.

Parliament at Westminster, 1st December, 1741. (15 George II.) William Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq.

Parliament at Westminster, 10th November, 1747. (21 George II.) William Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq.

Parliament at Westminster, 31st May, 1754. (27 George II.) William Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq.

1 A record in the Crown Office. In a printed list of the members of this Parliament he is incorrectly called Hugh Vaughan.

2 This Parliament did not meet for the despatch of business till the 14th of January following.

Parliament at Westminster, 3rd November, 1761. (2 George III.) William Vaughan, of Cors-y-gedol, Esq.

Parliament at Westminster, 10th May, 1768, (8 Geo. III.) John Pugh Pryse, Esq., of Rûg, in Merionethshire, and of Gogarthan, in the county of Cardigan. He died; a new writ was ordered in January, 1774, and Evan Lloyd Vaughan, Esq., afterwards of Cors-y-gedol, was elected.1

Parliament at Westminster, 30th November, 1774, (15 George III.) Evan Lloyd Vaughan, Esq. He represented the county in each succeeding Parliament until his death, which occurred upon December 4th, 1791. His successor in the representation of Merionethshire, was Robert Williams Vaughan, Esq., afterwards Sir Robert Williams Vaughan, of Nannau, Bart.

Parliament at Westminster, 22nd of September, 1796. (36 George III.) Sir Robert Williams Vaughan, of Nannau, Bart. He was M. P. for the county, in each subsequent Parliament until June, 1836, when he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds; and Richard Richards, of Caerynwch, Esq., was elected in his stead.

Parliament at Westminster, 15th of November, 1837, (1 Victoria.) Richard Richards, of Caerynwch, Esq. who has been Member for Merionethshire in every succeeding Parliament, and is its present representative. He is also one of the Masters of Chancery.

1846.

W. W. E. W.

1 At this election, the representation of the county was contested by the above mentioned Evan Lloyd Vaughan, Esq., and Henry Arthur Corbet, of Ynys-y-maengwyn, Esq. The number of persons who voted was as follows:

2 The new writ was moved for upon June 9th, 1836.

3 This election was contested by the above mentioned Richard Richards, Esq., and Sir William Wynne, Knt., Governor of Sandown Fort, in the Isle of Wight, a younger son of the family of Wynne, now Nanney, of Maesy-neuadd, in Merionethshire.

A FEW WORDS TO CHURCH REPAIRERS AND CHURCH BUILDERS.

AFTER a period of nearly three centuries of fatal inactivity, the Ecclesiastical Authorities of Wales, painfully affected by the results of their predecessors' neglect, are shewing the most energetic and praiseworthy desire to restore the Church to her original state of effectiveness, and to repair the sacred edifices which serve for the celebration of her Holy Rites. Not, indeed, before it was high time; not before the majority of the Welsh nation had been alienated in their affections from that sacred body, which itself has been, and still is, divided into hostile and scarcely reconcileable parties; not before the majority of the Churches had been allowed to approximate very closely to the mean condition of farming houses, and several had been totally abandoned. Now however, that in later times the more open and undisguised attacks of enemies from without, have opened the eyes of even the jarring factions within the sacred pale-and that the places of dignity of the Church are assailed by hands that ought to have been the first to defend, the last to attack them,-all members of the Church, like the soldiers of an army surprised by a night-attack, are rushing wildly to arms, are buckling on their mail, and are striving to do battle as best they may. The sentinels and officers of the watch have been found sleeping-the outposts have been driven in; but while we hear the din of war around us, we see little of the well-ordered and calm preparation, that can alone give us a good augury of future success.

Not to advert to the spiritual action of the Church, which lies without our province, though not without the reach of our hearty good wishes, we are glad to find this truth-so obvious to all but Welshmen for the last hundred years-now at length brought home in vivid reality to Incumbents and Church-wardens, viz., that the difference between a Welsh Church and a barn, is, as a Mathematician would call it, indefinitely small; saving that the farmer generally keeps the barn dry, or tries to do so, whereas the Welsh Incumbent and Church-wardens give, or rather have given, themselves no trouble about the matter. We have seen Churches with bats, birds, rats, and toads, in them. Broken windows, on the ventilating principle, are frequent; and convenient openings in the roofs, whether to admit the rain, or the snow, or the winged beings aforesaid, are common contrivances of the parochial authorities, for promoting the comfort of their friends and neighbours.

We have seen churches so damp and dirty that no gentleman would allow his kitchen to be kept in the same state; the earthen floors worn into pairs of deep holes by the feet of the rustic occupiers of seats during successive generations; the communion table, small and rickety, covered, or rather uncovered, by a moth-eaten, mouldy cloth; the population of the parish five hundred, the congregation

fifty; hard by the church, the rectory, a spacious, comfortable, wellfurnished dwelling; and not many furlongs off, a large, staring, and ugly meeting-house, with its double range of windows and lowpitched roof, vulgar and tasteless, but withal well built, well roofed, well floored, well glazed, well painted, well lighted, well warmed, well cleaned, and not only well frequented, but inside full, galleries and all, and the people thronging the doorways—and that not on Sundays alone, but on other days also!

In many parishes of Wales this state of things, or something very like it, exists in the face of a pious and zealous Clergy, of an exemplary and learned bench of Bishops, and of a rich and patriotic Gentry. High time indeed that they should awake out of their lethargy, if they would transmit one stone or shred of the Church to their grandchildren. But, at the same time, in many parishes this state of things does no longer exist; the awakening has taken place; something or other has stirred up the incumbent; and the incumbent has stirred up the churchwardens; and these have stirred up the archdeacon; and the arch-deacon has stirred up the bishop; and all together have had a long pull and a strong pull at the landowners; and at length something has been done-always with zeal, but rarely with knowledge.

We admit the fact, and we hail its existence as an omen of joy, that the spirit of reparation and restoration has come upon many parishes throughout the land; but we are also sorry to add, that another spirit, that of renovation and innovation, has also walked into the church yard with its fellow, and has played therein its unmannerly tricks. The former spirit generally manifests itself in the shape of a sober respectable looking gentleman, in black coat, shovel hat, and long gaiters, and exercises itself in directing the churchwardens, as they stand in awe of courts ecclesiastical, forthwith to repair and make decent their church, and in recommending the incumbent to apply for a parish rate, and then to bring his case before the Diocesan Church Building Society; and then to get a grant from the London Additional Church and Chapel and extra Pew building Society; and then to set afloat a good brisk subscription, and appeal to the hearts and pockets of all his parishioners, and of all those who are not. It is a mild beneficent spirit this, shedding around its gracious influence wherever it goes, and originating good resolutions, which, however, according to immemorial custom, are not always carried into effect. For, soon after this spirit has vanished, may be seen the other—a short, square-set, keen looking dæmon, in a brown coat and a low round hat, with a tape, a book, and a bottle with a pen in it. It is sometimes accompanied by a deputy sprite, in meaner attire, and of more stolid mien, who holds the said tape, and applies it to the church wall; carries a mason's pick, and probes the cracks and crannies of the plaster. The brown spirit hereupon offers the incumbent, that for so many hundred pounds-not more than double or triple the sum needed- he will so repair and beautify his church, that he shall not know it again. He will take away that

clumsy old oak roof, so dirty and dingy, and all those old panels with popish carvings upon them. He will plaster the walls inside and out; reglaze the windows, and knock away those useless stone mullions, that only serve to keep out the light; the font shall be nicely scraped, so as to remove those badly turned arches that run round it; the hole inside shall be well plugged up; good comfortable pews to keep the wind out shall be put up; the reading desk shall be placed quite convenient inside the communion rails, and so shall the pulpit; and the whole shall be well whitewashed inside and out, a practice which he recommends to be kept up every year—for it covers cracks in the wall. Or else, if the reverend gentleman pleases, he will pull down the old church altogether, and will build him up a nice new Gothic church, quite clean and beautiful; it will not come to above three or four hundred pounds over the amount of rates, donations, and suscriptions; and he will fill the windows with the best yellow, red, and blue glass, and put up any of the newest plaster or cast-iron ornaments the parish may wish.

This spirit vanishes too; and within twelve months the deed is done. And so, in a great number of parishes in Wales, we now flatter ourselves that we run the Dissenters pretty considerably hard, and that, however the proud Saxons may affect to look down upon us, it would be much better for them to go home again, and see if they can do as well. This is the state of things in most of the "awakened" parishes that we know of.

Sometimes there comes a third and a solitary ghost, like a contemplative man, in sober garb, with pilgrim-staff, wallet, and book; and he flits about the church-hunts among the graves - reads "the simple annals of the poor"-ponders over the tombs of the noble dead and anon begins to record what he has seen with pencil and with pen. The incumbent regards him partly with suspicion, partly with dread; the clerk, who brings him the key of the sacred edifice, eyes him askance, and doubts that he is after no good. He talks of the altar asks after the cross opens the font sketches a window-copies an inscription, or a coat of arms-sighs-and vanishes like the rest. His visit is sometimes not altogether useless, and the proof of it is, that in several parishes a really sensible reparation of the old church has taken place, while, in others, where the ancient edifice was altogether untenantable, a new church has arisen of suitable and comely design.

A word of advice, then, to all who may fall in with these ideal beings:

1. Let the incumbent and churchwardens of every parish where repairs of the fabric are wanted, use their own good common sense before they adopt any plan whatever for effecting the same.

2. Let them weigh well their means before they fix on the expense; and let them consider that they hold, not a private, but a public trust; that they are bound to do their work, not for the present generation alone, but for posterity; and that it is a lasting piece of economy to the parish to have the work performed in the best