W degrees approached so near, Of horns, and pans, and dogs, and boys, And kettle-drums whose sullen dub, Sounds like the hooping of a tub; . . And followed with a world of tall lads, That merry ditties troll'd and ballads. . . . Next pans and kettles of all keys, From trebles down to double base: . . . And at fit periods the whole rout Set up their throat with clamorous shout." A notice of an old Welsh ceremony appeared in the _Liverpool Mercury_ on March 15th, 1887, and it will not be without interest to reproduce it. "That ancient Welsh custom," says the writer, "now nearly obsolete, known as riding the ceffyl pren--_Anglice_, 'wooden-horse'--and intended to operate as a wholesome warning to faithless wives
and husbands, was revived on Saturday night in an Anglesey village some three miles from Llangefni. The individual who had drawn upon himself the odium of his neighbours had parted from his wife, and was alleged to be persistent in his attentions to another female. On Saturday night a large party surrounded the house, and compelled him to get astride a ladder, carrying him shoulder-high through the village, stopping at certain points
to allow the womankind to wreak their vengeance upon him. This amusement was kept up for some time until the opportune arrival of a sergeant of police
from Llangefni, who rescued the unlucky