(Vol. iv., p. 83.)
As I have not seen the _Athenæum_, I send the following notes, in
uncertainty whether or not they may prove acceptable to MR. COLLIER.
_Sion y Cent_, i.e. John a Kent, or John of Kentchurch, is very
generally believed in Wales to have been Owen Glendowr; though some
few--unable to account for the mysterious disappearance of the hero--are
still firmly convinced that he sleeps, like Montezuma and various other
mighty men, in some deep cavern, surrounded by his warriors, until the
wrongs of his country shall call him forth once more to lead them on to
battle.
The following extracts are from notes appended [by the editors] to some
poems of John a Kent which are published amongst the "Iolo MSS." by the
"Welsh MSS. Society."
"... John of Kent, as he is called, is said to have been a priest
at Kentchurch in Herefordshire, on the confines of Wales, about
the beginning of the fifteenth century. He still enjoys a high
degree of popularity, in the legendary stories of the
principality, as a powerful magician. There is in the possession
of Mr. Scudamore, of Kentchurch, an ancient painting of a monk,
supposed to be a portrait of John of Kent; and as the family of
Scudamore is descended from a daughter of Owen Glendowr, at whose
house that chieftain is believed to have passed in concealment a
portion of the latter part of his life, it has been supposed that
John of Kentchurch was no other than Owen Glendowr himself," &c.
&c.--Page 676., note to the poem on _The Names of God_.
"... The author was a priest of Kentchurch in Herefordshire, on
the confines of Monmouthshire and Breconshire, and is said to have
lived in the time of Wickliffe, and to have been of his party. As
the parish of Kentchurch is adjacent to that of Oldcastle, the
residence of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, it is by no means
impossible that John of Kentchurch may also have favoured the same
opinions; and may in some measure sanction the idea."
"... The poet then proceeds to speak of the indignation of the
well-robed bishops, the monks, friars and priests; and in the
course of the composition he makes some strong animadversions on
the luxurious living of the churchmen, stating that formerly the
friars were preachers, who possessed no wealth, and went about on
foot with nothing but a staff; but that they now possessed horses,
and frequented banquets," &c. &c.--Page 687., notes to _A Poem to
another's Book_, by John of Kentchurch; from the collection of
Thomas ap Jevan of Tre'r Bryn, made about 1670.