C.H.

Scala Coeli (No. 23. p. 366.).—­In Foxe’s Acts and Mon., vol. v. p. 364., Lond. 1838, your Querist may see a copy of a grant from Pope Clement VII. in 1526, to the brethren of a Boston guild, assuring them that any member thereof who should enter the Lady Chapel in St. Botolph’s Church, Boston, once a quarter, and say there “a Paternoster, Ave Maria, and Creed, shall have the full remission due to them that visit the Chapel of Scala Scoeli.”

H.W.

Twm Shawn Cattie (No. 24, p. 383.).—­The following extract from Cliffe’s Book of South Wales, furnishes a reply to this Query.

In describing the beautiful mountain scenery between Llandovery and Tregaron, he says:—­

“High in the rock above the fall yawns a hole, hardly a cavern, where once lurked a famous freebooter of Wales, Twm Sion Catti:  the entrance to this cave is through a narrow aperture, formed of two immense slate rocks, which face each other, and the space between them is narrower at the bottom than the top, so {456} that the passage can only be entered sideways, with the figure inclined according to the slanting of the rock.

“The history of Twm Sion Catti (pronounced Toom Shone Catti), alias Thomas Jones, Esq., is very romantic.  He was a natural son of John ap David Moethe, by Catharine, natural daughter of Meredydd ap Ivan ap Robert, grandfather of Sir John Wynne, of Gwydir (see The Heraldic Visitations of Wales, published by the Welsh MSS.  Society), and is said to have died in 1630, at the age of 61.  In early life, ’he was a notorious freebooter and highwayman,’ and levied black mail on the country within reach of his mountain abode, with the aid of a small band of followers.  He soon reformed, married a rich heiress, was then created a justice of peace for Brecon, and ultimately became sheriff of that county and Carmarthenshire.  He was, observes Sir S.R.  Meyrick, esteemed as an antiquarian and poet, but is more known for the tricks attributed to him as a robber.”

A.B.

Twm Sion Catti.—­The noted robber, Twm Sion or Shon Catti, referred to at No. 24. p. 383., was a Welshman who flourished between the years 1590 and 1630.  He was the natural son of Sir John Wynne, and obtained his surname of Catti from the appellation of his mother Catherine.  In early life he was a brigand of the most audacious character, who plundered and terrified the rich in such a manner that his name was a sufficient warrant for the raising of any sum which he might desire; while his unbounded generosity to the poor or unprotected, joined to an innate love of fun and frolic—­for he was a very Eulenspiegel—­made him the darling of the people.  His chosen dwelling-place was in the almost inaccessible cave situated near Llandovery, at the junction of the Tywi and the Dethia (the Toothy of Drayton), which still bears his name.  As time passed on, he wooed and won the heiress of Ystrad-ffin,