ave been published had it not been for their kind
assistance. Although the study of Folk-lore is of growing interest, and
its importance to the historian is being acknowledged; still, the
publishing of a work on the subject involved a considerable risk of loss
to the printers, which, however, has been removed in this case, at least
to a certain extent, by those who have subscribed for the work.

The sources of the information contained in this essay are various, but
the writer is indebted, chiefly, to the aged inhabitants of Wales, for
his information. In the discharge of his official duties, as Diocesan
Inspector of Schools, he visited annually, for seventeen years, every
parish in the Diocese of St. Asaph, and he was thus brought into contact
with young and old. He spent several years in Carnarvonshire, and he had
a brother, the Revd. Elijah Owen, M.A., a Vicar in Anglesey, from whom he
derived much information. By his journeys he became acquainted with many
people in North Wales, and he hardly ever failed in obtaining from them
much singular and valuable information of bye-gone days, which there and
then he dotted down on scraps of paper, and afterwards transferred to
note books, which still are in his possession.

It was his custom, after the labour of school inspection was over, to ask
the clergy with whom he was staying to accompany him to the most aged
inhabitants of their parish. This they willingly did, and often in the
dark winter evenings, lantern in hand, they sallied forth on their
journey, and in this way a rich deposit of traditions and superstitions
was struck and rescued from oblivion. Not a few of the clergy were
themselves in full possession of all the quaint sayings and Folk-lore of
their parishes, and they were not loath to transfer them to the writer's
keeping. In the course of this work, the writer gives the names of the
many aged friends who supplied him with information, and also the names
of the clergy who so willingly helped him in his investigations. But so
interesting was the matter obtained from several of his clerical friends,
that he thinks he ought in justice to acknowledge their services in this
preface. First and foremost comes up to his mind, the Rev. R. Jones,
formerly Rector of Llanycil, Bala, but now of Llysfaen, near Abergele.
This gentleman's memory is stored with reminiscences of former days, and
often and again his name occurs in these pages. The Rev. Canon Owen
Jones