National Republican., 1880-07-16
SAINT swIrnIws DaT.
The Event that 1t Celebrates - The Good
Welsh saint and tile Usquebaueh.


Welsh saint and tile Usquebaugh.
Saint Swithin was Wulshman. His genoa.
logical record IS undoubtedly correct ono
but as it extends, with minute ramifcation Of
detail, several thousand years before the food
1t will not for very obvious reasons, bo treated
OF at length. Many hundred different genera
tions of Evauses aud Moreans and Powells and
APPS testified to the accuracy of the document
as also to the fact that during tho flood it was
preserved in the private ark of the Swithin
family. Honco there Is no doubt that ST.
Swithin was a Welshman. S.. SNithiu was
fond OF perry, q very pit asant but rather thin
hymiic drnk-pear cider, in fact. On a visit
to Ireland, however he was introduced to that
fayorito invention and prime necessary of the
Gaelic race, Usqnebaugh. The saint swore his
favorite oath, AN adjuraton Of 2!0 consonants
without vowal, that ne would call down the
vengeance of heaven upon the man, be he
Gael or Kymry, who should Introduce a still in
Cumbrin. For" said the saint, "that land is tho
pleuiantest under the sun, and If this goodl y
drink be added to its attractions no Wolsh.
man will ever consent to leave it even for
"Avilion or for Heaven The curious who
are anxious to know all that the good saint
thought about Usquebaugh are referred to
tho famous bard from whom the above quota.
tion is translated, Evan ap Evan ap Rhys up
Drdhrggk hdrdHbgkdgrhrgbnbh. very pleas.
ant aud profitable author, who records many
of the sayings and goodly doings OF Saint
Swithin. The saint went iuto retreat in tho
neighborhood Of the first still whose acquiint.
ance he bad made aud remained thoro In deep
devolions for eleven years. Then ho started
Tor Cumbrin, which the Saxons call Wales
Before starting thithcr he privately acquainted
bis faithful attendant with the secret of max
ing Usqucbaugh, aud directed him to repair at
once to the foot of Snowdon, where the saint
had an underground cell, aud fil that holy
place with Usquebaugh made on Welsh
soil. But he was cautioned by all the
saints in the Kymuric calendar not to let the
| neighboring Welsh know anything concerning
the precious secret. First going into the low
lands Of Scotland on purpose 10 got the itch,
which Object he amply and thoroughly at
tanned, Saint Swithin embarked for his ma
tive shores in company with q keg of
Usqucbaugh, a Mauxmau and Gael from the
northern lochs, Anglice, a highland Scotch
man. Tho voyage lasted over night, but the
| Usquebaugh did not, there being Scotchman
on board. storm arose, the boat sprang Il
leak, the Highlander, to tighten IT, threw tho
Manxmam overheard, but the heroic effort
was unayailing and tue crew were wrecked.
Leaving tho Highlander in the water, know.
ing that he was safer there than anywhere
else, or that probcrbs had no efficacy, tho
| saint repaired 10 Snowdon. He was very dry
| and relieved the mOnotony of the journey by
| niuring up visions of the barrel. stock ed
cell under the lofty crown of the mountains
brow. Reaching tho place the good saint
swore in Saxon, so awlully was ho struck by
| tho situation. His assistant was stretched
| dosd drunk on the ground, and forty drunken
Wclshmen were dancing the national dance
around him, singing that Arthur would surely
come again. But tho Usquebaugh was all
| gone; and the saint had been without nip"
since morning, and it was the 10Th of July
| lie sat down on tho rocks and wcpt Then he
sworo and called down tho vengeance Of
heaven on them. He invoked u curse on them
| that after death the whole crowd should meet
on that spot every 18th Of July thereafter for
$4,000 years and dance around the drunken
ghost Of the Acolyte until they were fearfully
dry. Then, If even ono Of the ad ured should
feel penitencc for not leaving at least q Thin
bleful to the saint, it should rain
for forty days and nights to qucnch,
in some measure, their parching thirst. If
their pentence for the sacri!cgc was merely
expressed, not felt, then for forty days should
the weather be not and dry, a foretaste of the
warm region destined for them at the expira-
| tion OF the 63 900 years. But If they neither
felt nor expressed ponitenco, then it should be
alternately dry and wet, and what punishment
worse to "a Welshman than TO be wet with
water?
AS 1t has been alternately wet and dry for
forty days after the 10Th of July since that
famous sacrlcge, it is safe to say that tho
| Wolshmcn never regret drinking Usquobaugh.
Sucn is the truthful history of Saint Swithn.