_Longfellow_ (Vol. ix., p. 174.).--There was a family of the name of
Longfellow resident in Brecon, South Wales, about fifty or sixty years ago,
who were large landowners in the county; and one of them (Tom Longfellow,
alluded to in the lines below) kept the principal inn, "The Golden Lion,"
in that town. His son occupied a farm a few miles from Brecon, about thirty
years ago; and two of his sisters resided in the town. The family was
frequently engaged in law suits (perhaps from the _proverbially_ litigious
disposition {256} of their Welsh neighbours), and was ultimately ruined.
Many of the old inhabitants of that part of the Principality could, no
doubt, give a better and fuller account of them.
The following lines (not very flattering to the landlord, certainly), said
to have been written by a commercial traveller on an inside-window shutter
of "The Golden Lion," when Mr. Longfellow was the proprietor, may not be
out of place in "N. & Q.:"
"Tom Longfellow's name is most justly his due,
Long his neck, long his bill, which is very long too;
Long the time ere your horse to the stable is led,
Long before he's rubbed down, and much longer till fed;
Long indeed may you sit in a comfortless room,
Till from kitchen, long dirty, your dinner shall come;
Long the often-told tale that your host will relate,
Long his face whilst complaining how long people eat;
Long may Longfellow long ere he see me again,--
Long 'twill be ere I long for Tom Longfellow's inn."