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diff --git a/40488-8.txt b/40488-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b7af87b..0000000 --- a/40488-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5931 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Story of an Ancient Parish, by H. R. Coulthard - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Story of an Ancient Parish - Breage with Germoe - -Author: H. R. Coulthard - -Release Date: August 12, 2012 [EBook #40488] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT PARISH *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Paul Clark and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - Transcriber's Note: - - Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as - possible. Some changes of spelling and punctuation have been made. - They are listed at the end of the text. - - Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. - - - - -[Illustration: - -J. C. BURROW, F.R.P.S. BREAGE CHURCH. Camborne.] - - - - - THE - Story of an Ancient Parish - - BREAGE WITH GERMOE, - - With some account of its - Armigers, Worthies and - Unworthies, Smugglers - and Wreckers, Its - Traditions and Superstitions - - BY - - H. R. COULTHARD, M.A. - - 1913. - - THE CAMBORNE PRINTING AND STATIONERY COMPANY, LIMITED. - CAMBORNE, CORNWALL. - - MR. J. A. D. BRIDGER, 112a and 112b, Market Jew Street. Penzance. - - -_I dedicate this small volume to the friends and neighbours who in the -first place suggested the writing of it to me by telling me stories of -the days of their fathers._ - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE CELTIC PERIOD 9 - - II. THE SAXONS 28 - - III. FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE REFORMATION 35 - - IV. THE REFORMATION TO THE END OF THE COMMONWEALTH 59 - - V. RECENT TIMES 82 - - VI. THE GODOLPHINS 100 - - VII. THE ARUNDELLS, DE PENGERSICKS, MILTONS AND SPARNONS 115 - - VIII. WORTHIES AND UNWORTHIES 129 - - IX. PLACE NAMES AND SUPERSTITIONS 148 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - PAGE - - Breage Church, Frontispiece 2 - - Celtic Cross in Breage Churchyard 24 - - Frescos in Breage Church 51 - - St. Germoe's Chair 55 - - Godolphin House 100 - - A Godolphin Helmet in Breage Church 103 - - Pengersick Castle 119 - - - - -PREFACE. - - -The facts and thoughts which comprise this little book were many of -them, in the first instance, arranged for use in sermons on the Sundays -preceding our local Feast Day, as some attempt to interest Parishioners -in the story of our Church and parish. - -I have to acknowledge with gratitude much information given me most -ungrudgingly, from his great store of antiquarian learning, by the -Reverend T. Taylor, Vicar of St. Just; likewise my thanks are due to Mr. -H. Jenner for kindly help and information upon the etymology of local -place names. I must also acknowledge the free use I have made of facts -bearing upon the history of Breage and Germoe taken from Mr. -Baring-Gould's "Historic Characters and Events in Cornwall," and at the -same time I have to express my thanks to the Reverend H. J. Warner, -Vicar of Yealmpton, the Reverend H. G. Burden, Vicar of Leominster, and -Mr. A. E. Spender for valuable information and assistance. I have been -greatly helped in my examination of the Parish Registers by the -excellent transcription of large parts of them made by Mrs. Jocelyn -Barnes. Finally I have to thank a great number of kind friends at -Breage, who have imparted to me the fast fading traditions of other -times, to whom I venture to dedicate this brief record of days that are -no more. - - _Breage, - All Saints' Day, 1912._ - - - Date of | - Insti- | LIST OF THE VICARS OF BREAGE. - tution. | - |--------------------------------+------------------------------------- - -- |WILLIAM, SON OF RICHARD |Died or resigned during the Interdict - 1219 |WILLIAM, SON OF HUMPHREY | - 1264 |MASTER ROBERT DE LA MORE |Resigned to become Canon of Glasney, - | | ultimately parson of Yeovil. - 1264 |MASTER STEPHENUS DE ARBOR | - -- |SIR PASCASIUS |No date of Institution. Old, blind - | | and infirm in 1310. - 1313 |SIR DAVID DE LYSPEIN | - -- |SIR JOHN YURL DE TREGESOU |No date of Institution. - 1362 |HENRY CRETTIER | - -- |SIR WILLIAM PELLOUR |No date of Institution. - 1393 |SIR JOHN GODE |Died at Breage. - 1403 |MASTER WILLIAM PENSANS |Died at Breage. - 1439 |SIR JOHN PATRY |Died at Breage. - 1444 |SIR JOHN PEYTO |Died at Breage. - 1445 |SIR WILLIAM LEHE |Died at Breage. - 1466 |SIR WILLIAM PERS |Resigned to become Canon of Glasney. - 1505 |MASTER THOMAS GODOLPHIN |Resigned. - 1510 |MASTER JOHN JAKES, | - | Bachelor in Decrees |Died at Breage. - 1536 |JOHN BERY, M.A. |Died at Breage. - 1558 |SIR ALEXANDER DAWE |Died at Breage. - 1595 |FRANCIS HARVEY, M.A. |Vicar also of St. Erth, buried in - | | Breage Churchyard. - 1607 |WILLIAM COTTON, M.A. |Son of the Bishop of Exeter, resigned, - | | holder of many other benefices in - | | Devon and Cornwall. - 1608 |WILLIAM ORCHARD, | - | "Preacher of the Word of God."|Resigned. - |JAMES INNES (ejected 1661) |Intruding Puritan Divine. - 1661 |JAMES TREWINNARD, M.A. |Resigned on becoming Vicar of Mawgan, - | | at which place he lies buried. - 1696 |HENRY BUTHNANCE |Died at Breage, lies buried beyond - | | the East wall of the chancel. - 1720 |JAMES TREWINNARD, M.A. |Died at Breage, also Vicar of Mawgan. - 1722 |EDWARD COLLINS, |Died at Breage, also Vicar of St. Erth, - | Bachelor of Laws | where he lies buried. - 1755 |HENRY USTICKE, B.A. |Died at Breage, lies buried beyond - | | the East wall of the chancel. - 1769 |EDWARD MARSHALL, M.A. |Died at Breage. - 1803 |RICHARD GERVEYS GRYLLS, M.A. |Resigned. - 1809 |RICHARD GERVEYS GRYLLS, |Died at Luxulian, which parish he - | M.A., the younger | held in conjunction with Breage. - 1853 |EDWARD MORRIS PRIDMORE, M.A. |Died at Breage. - 1889 |JOCELYN BARNES, M.A. |Died at Breage. - 1904 |HARRY JOHN PETTY |Resigned. - 1907 |HUGH ROBERT COULTHARD, M.A. | - - - - -THE CELTIC PERIOD. - -CHAPTER I. - - -At the dawn of history, Cornwall, as in fact England generally, was -inhabited by a race of small, dark people, who, for the want of a better -name, have come to be called Ivernians. The blood of this ancient dark -race chiefly survives to-day in South Wales and Cornwall, especially in -our own western Cornwall along the coast line. In Breage, there are -continually to be met with faces and forms which suggest this small dark -race, and which show to what a large extent the ancient Ivernian blood -still survives in our midst. - -The Ivernians must have been widely spread over Cornwall, judging by the -numerous chippings from the manufacture of their flint implements -scattered all over the County, which still may be collected in large -quantities. In spite of the continuous mining operations carried on all -over the Parish of Breage for endless generations, and the many -ploughings of the land which must have taken place in periods when the -growth of grain was profitable, these flint chippings can still be -gathered in many places in the parish, especially on the bare patches of -land where the gorse has been burnt, before the grass begins to spring. -In the earlier stages of their history the Ivernians used sharpened -fragments of flint rudely fashioned to the purpose, as knives, axes and -scrapers. In fact, for a long period of their history they were a people -living in and under the conditions of the Stone Age. - -Long before the time of written records another race, called Celts, -found their way to Cornwall. This race was divided into two distinct -branches, the Goidels and the Brythons. The Goidels were much inferior -in culture to the Brythons; they were the first to enter Britain, and -upon the arrival of the Brythons they were slaughtered and driven before -them to the remote fastnesses of the West and North, just as in a later -age the Brythons themselves were driven before the Saxons. Under the -circumstances it might have been reasonable to conclude that the people -of Cornwall, in so far as they were not Ivernians, were mainly of -Goidelic blood. This conclusion is, however, not borne out by the -Cornish language which has come down to us in the form of a few miracle -plays and other fragments, which is undoubtedly Brythonic in character. -Of course, it may have been that, when the Brythons were driven into -Cornwall and Wales and across the Channel into Brittany in hordes by the -remorseless, exterminating Saxons, their tongue in these regions -gradually supplanted the more barbarous Goidelic speech. - -The Celts, as they advanced westward, whether Goidel or Brython, would -exterminate or make slaves of the Ivernians, driving them before them as -they advanced into the extreme western parts of the County. We have all -heard a number of foolish stories of the Cornish folk in the fishing -villages being largely descended from Spanish soldiers and sailors who -were saved from wrecked battleships of the great Armada. These fisher -folk are dark and swarthy, not because they are descended from Spaniards -but because they are descended from the ancient Ivernians who took -refuge in the caves and rugged places along the coast, leaving the good -land to the conquering Celts. - -The Celts, we imagine, would find the Ivernians professing a rude system -of natural religion much akin to their own, but perhaps not so highly -developed; indeed, a very large proportion of the human race at this far -distant time seems to have practised a religion of nature worship alike -in its main features. Here in Cornwall, as elsewhere, for instance, -they kept a great festival in the spring-time, when they celebrated the -coming to life again of the God of vegetation, whose name amongst the -Celts was Gwydian.[1] He was supposed to come to life again with the -coming of the green grass, the leaves and the flowers, and the singing -of the birds, having died in the previous autumn with the withering of -the leaves and the in-gathering of the harvest. Helston Flora Day is the -festival of his resurrection continued right down through the ages. As -in spring they rejoiced over the resurrection of the God of vegetation, -so in autumn they mourned over his death.[2] Most of us have heard the -old Cornish rhyme sung by the reapers at the cutting of the last sheaf, -which is a survival of this ancient custom of bewailing the death of -Gwydian. - - "I'll have un, I'll have un, I'll have un, - What have'e, What have'e, What have'e, - What will'e, What will'e, What will'e, - Onec, Onec, Onec, O'hurro, O'hurro, O'hurro." - -As this rhyme was repeated, all the harvesters stood round the farmer in -a circle, whilst he waved a sheaf in the air. This custom of mourning -the dead God of vegetation was very widely spread over the world.[3] No -one who has heard the mournful strain in which this chant of our ancient -harvest fields was sung can doubt that in its original use it was a song -of mourning. - -The Celtic Priests or Druids knew a good deal of rude astronomy. They -used the stone circles, so many of which still survive, for purposes of -astronomical observations. By watching the alignment of the sun at -rising or setting, and also of certain stars, with the centre stone and -some stone on the circumference of the circle, they were able to -calculate the seasons of the year and the dates of their festivals. -Until a generation ago one of these ancient circles stood on Trewarvas -Head; it was pulled down by some foolish and ignorant people who thought -they might find hidden treasure under the great stones. From the top of -the high cliff overlooking the sea the Druid Priests would have a -splendid view of the far horizon. We can picture them making their -observations through the silent hours of some still star-lit night, with -the ceaseless slumbrous swell of the sea on the rocks far beneath them. - -On Midsummer Eve the Druids lit a great fire on the summit of Tregoning -Hill. We know this, because the custom of lighting the fire survived -until very recent times. An old woman deplored its discontinuance to the -writer as a sign of the prevailing irreligion of the times. It seems -more than probable that at this Midsummer Festival human victims were -sometimes sacrificed in honour of the sun. - -In the remote Highlands and Islands of Scotland this festival was -observed down to the early part of the eighteenth century, in a way -which clearly points to human sacrifice as the great central act of the -rite.[4] Numbers of men were in the habit of gathering on Midsummer Eve -in these remote parts of the kingdom round the ancient stone circles -midst the hills. A fire was lighted in the centre of the circle; pieces -of cake or bannock were then placed in some cavity where previously a -blackened and burnt fragment of the cake had been placed. Each person, -having first been blindfolded, then drew from the cavity a piece of the -broken cake; the man unfortunate enough to draw the blackened fragment -had to leap through the fire and pay a forfeit or fine. In the dim past -the drawer of the blackened fragment doubtless became the victim -offered to the God to ward off his anger from the community. This -ancient rite must have been practised in our Parish more than a thousand -years before the coming of Christ. - -At the very dawn of human history we find all over the world, in Europe, -India, China and America, the ancient peoples keeping four great -festivals as a rule, at the summer and winter solstices and the two -equinoxes; in fact their religious culture in cardinal points was one -and the same. - -One part of the faith of these ancient Ivernians and Celts that has -lingered on to our own times is the deeply cherished belief in Fairies. -How this belief came to be so widely spread and deeply cherished amongst -ancient peoples it is impossible to say. It has been suggested that, in -their wanderings over the world in search of pasturage and congenial -climate, they may have encountered in the recesses of primeval forests -or in lonely fastnesses of the mountains remnants of the slowly -vanishing pigmy race of neo-lithic cave men, and that they came to -regard them with something of superstitious awe, and that the memory of -these "little people" became a race memory, in the course of generations -becoming etherealised and woven into the woof of their religious -beliefs. On the other hand we have the possible view that our nomadic -forefathers may have had fitful glimpses, as some of their descendants -aver they have, of orders of beings beyond the ken of normal human -vision, of beings existing upon another plane. Taking into consideration -the exceeding aboundingness of human life within the radius of our poor -faculties, I confess that this view seems to present no inherent -difficulty. - -Possibly in the way in which the people of each Cornish Parish possessed -in former generations a nickname, we have a vestige of still more -ancient rights, which carry us back to the very dawn of human culture. -We have Wendron goats, Mullion gulls, Madron bulls, St. Agnes cuckoos, -Mawgan owls, St. Keverne buccas[5] and many others. The following old -rhyme perpetuates the fading memory of the custom, - - "Cambourne men are bull dogs, - Breage men are brags, - Germoe men can scat 'un all to rags." - -An analogous custom to this Cornish system of nicknames prevails amongst -primitive people all the world over.[6] Each tribe or section of the -tribe has its Totem, an animal, bird or plant, with which it is supposed -to be in close and intimate relationship, and from which the tribe or -section of a tribe receives its name. Possibly Totemism may have had its -origin in crude attempts of primitive men to prevent too close -intermarriage, as men and women possessing the same Totem were not -allowed to marry, whilst on the other hand it has been suggested that -the custom was bound up with the view of primitive men with regard to -sacrifice and inter-communion with their Gods. - -The Tin Mines of Cornwall had been known to the Greeks and possibly the -Phoenicians from the earliest times. Diodorus [7]Siculus gives a fragment -from the writings of the Greek traveller Poseidonius who visited -Cornwall possibly in the 3rd century B.C., which may be translated as -follows: "and stamping the tin into shapes of cubes or dice, they carry -it in great quantities in waggons into an island called Ictis lying off -Britain, when the parts between the Island and the main land became dry -land by the ebbing of the tide." - -It has been suggested that Ictis was St. Michael's Mount and also the -Isle of Wight. It is impossible to accept the latter contention, unless -we take the view which has been put forward that great changes have -taken place in the depths of the channel separating the Isle of Wight -from the mainland, for which we have no evidence in history or -tradition. Also the Isle of Wight is not less than one hundred and fifty -miles from the tin mines of Cornwall, and at the period to which we are -referring the only roads that existed between the two were mere tracks, -for much of the distance no doubt impassable to waggons. If it had been -necessary to send Cornish tin to the Isle of Wight for transport abroad, -it would naturally have been taken to one or other of the many harbours -along the Cornish southern coast and transhipped by sea in the summer -time. The contention in favour of St. Michael's Mount is almost equally -difficult to accept. It is difficult to see what advantage could have -been gained by carting the tin from the mainland to that Island, when -the contiguous coast possessed several excellent natural harbours. The -most probable solution to the writer seems to be that the Island of -Ictis was the entire Penwith Peninsula. A walk from Marazion Station to -St. Erth along the low-lying belt of marsh land makes it clear that the -ocean at no very distant date must at high tide have encircled the -Penwith Peninsula. - -In a later age it is possible that the first seeds of Christianity may -have come to Britain by way of Cornwall along the trade route created by -the exportation of the products of the Cornish Tin Mines to Marseilles. -Foreign merchants would visit Cornwall for the purpose of purchasing -tin, and numbers of foreign sailors would come to these shores in the -galleys that conveyed the tin to the coast of Gaul. Under the -circumstances it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that the first -seeds of Christianity were in this way brought into Britain through -Cornwall. - -It seems in every way possible that a fair proportion of the tin -exported from the Island of Ictis to Greece, Italy and the East came -from what is now the Parish of Breage. We have been told by those -competent to speak on such matters that there are tin workings in the -neighbourhood of Wheal Vor which evince a very great antiquity. The name -of Wheal Vor itself means in the Celtic tongue "great work," but we -cannot build much as to the antiquity of the mine merely upon its Celtic -name, as the Cornish or Celtic language continued to be spoken in this -part of Cornwall even until the reign of Queen Anne or later. - -At what date the Romans penetrated into Cornwall it is impossible to -say. It has been usual to regard their occupation of Cornwall as of a -somewhat shadowy and uncertain character, but this is not altogether -borne out by facts. Their camps, possibly of a not very permanent -character, are scattered all over our most western part of the County, -amongst other places there is one at St. Erth and another in the parish -of Constantine. The Roman Mile-stone, found in the foundations of St. -Hilary Church, at the restoration, and now preserved there, attests the -fact that a Roman road to the extreme West passed near St. Hilary -Church, probably following the same lines that the main road between -Penzance and Helston follows to-day. Along this road it is probable -would come the first real light and culture to Breage with the steady -tramp of the marching legionaries. It may well have been that -Christianity first travelled this way in their train. Roman coins and -Roman pottery have been from time to time found all over the County. In -1779 an urn containing copper coins weighing eight pounds was found on -Godolphin Farm by a ploughman who sold them to a Jew, and so all trace -of them was lost. - -In whatever way Christianity was first brought to the remote Parish of -Breage, it was certainly not brought by St. Breaca, St. Germoe and the -rest of their companions, who only made their appearance at the end of -the fifth or beginning of the sixth century. - -As early as the third century two great Christian writers, Tertullian -and Origen, speak of the Britons as having been won over to the religion -of Christ, and St. Chrysostom in the next century makes a similar -statement. St. Jerome also speaks of the British Pilgrims he had seen in -the Holy Land in the fourth century; British Bishops were present at the -Councils of Arles and Rimini in the fourth century, and were invited to -the OEcumenical Council of Nicæa, but could not go on account of their -poverty. Pieces of Roman pottery with the sacred monogram burnt upon it -were found at Padstow. Pelagius a Welshman, in the fourth century, set -the whole world in a blaze with his teachings about original sin. These -and many other facts make it quite clear that Christianity must have -been received by the Celts of Cornwall long before the coming of the -so-called Irish Missionaries to Cornwall, to two of whom the districts -of Breage and Germoe owe their names. - -The Pagan Saxons landed on the east coast of England in the fifth -century and drove the Christian Brythons before them, putting all to the -sword who fell into their hands. Those who escaped took refuge either in -Cornwall, Wales or Brittany. It is from the Celts, therefore, with a -strong admixture of Ivernian blood, that the present inhabitants, at any -rate of Western Cornwall, are descended. As a result of the Saxon -invasion of Britain it came about that Wales and Cornwall were fully -Christian, whilst the rest of Britain became practically Pagan. The -Venerable Bede, the Anglo-Saxon historian monk of Jarrow, goes so far as -to blame the Celts of Cornwall and Wales for altogether neglecting the -conversions of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Considering the nature -of the case, this was a most unreasonable complaint to make, as the -Saxons at once killed or enslaved any Celts unlucky enough to fall into -their hands. If further proof were needed that Wales and Cornwall were -Christian at this time, we have only to turn to the writings of -Gildas[8] and the Welsh Bards, Taliesin, Aneurin and Llwarch-Hen. The -memorials of these writers date from the sixth century and depict -incidentally Christianity in a highly organised condition among the -Celts of the West. - -Leland the antiquarian, who visited Cornwall and consequently Breage in -the reign of Henry VIII, amongst other things of interest in the -Parishes of Breage and Germoe which he noticed, speaks of the ruins of -the ancient Castle or Stone Fort on the summit of Tregoning Hill. He -says: "The Castle of Conan stood on the hill of Pencair, there yet -appeareth two ditches, some say that Conan had a son called Tristrame." -The life of the chieftain Conan and all that he did have long since -faded into oblivion; all that survives of him are the mounds of stones -that mark the site of his rude stronghold, and his name which has -escaped oblivion in the name of the hill on which he lived and -ruled--Tregoning, "Tre Conan" the abode or settlement of Conan. Pencair, -the name which Leland gives to Tregoning Hill, merely means the Hill of -the Castle or Camp. - -The two round camps on the eastern face of Tregoning Hill, formed by the -casting up of high banks of earth with a deep ditch on the outer side, -are the work of Brythons, or at any rate of people who had adopted their -method of fortification and defence; the Goidels made the breastwork of -their camps of stone. In those lawless days all communities had to -fortify themselves against the sudden attacks of enemies, just as, on -the north-western frontier of India, all the villages at the present day -are fortified against attack by high walls of mud. The two camps or -settlements on Tregoning are well chosen near an excellent water supply -and on the side of the hill sheltered from the blustering gales coming -up from the sea. Possibly at the time when these two camps were the -haunts of two populous communities the whole of the low lying land of -Breage and Germoe was covered with swamp, tangled scrub and undergrowth. - -The first definite tradition bearing upon the history of the Parish is -the arrival of St. Breaca with St. Germoe, somewhere about 500. It is -said that they landed at the mouth of the Hayle River in company with -between seven and eight hundred Irish Saints, both men and women, who -are supposed to have come from the Province of Munster. From the legends -that have come down to us with regard to them we gather that they were -not altogether wanted by the Cornish. However, this was a minor -consideration to such a large band of enthusiastic Irish men and women; -they made a forcible landing and drove back the Cornish Chief Teudor and -his men who opposed their landing. The legends describe Teudor as a -cruel heathen, in which surely there must be some mistake, as Teudor is -a Christian name, being only Cornish for Theodore. The legends go on to -tell us that one of this great company of Saints, a woman called Cruenna -was killed at Crowan in trying to take forcible possession of the land -of one who was already a Christian, for the purpose of building a church -upon it. It seems very much as if these Irish men and women, with the -true impulsiveness, of their race, set out to Cornwall to convert the -inhabitants, without first taking the trouble to find out whether or no -they were Christians. We see instances of the same spirit at work -to-day, Methodist Missionaries in Rome to convert Roman Catholics, and -Roman Catholic Missionaries in England to convert Christians who are not -Roman Catholics. - -It may be helpful, in considering this matter, to take a glance at the -condition of the people of the country whence these Missionaries came at -the time with which we are dealing. St. Patrick, who owed his knowledge -of Christianity to St. Ninian, a Briton, first brought Christianity to -Ireland not more than a hundred years before the arrival of the seven -hundred and seventy seven Saints in the Hayle River, whilst, as we have -seen, Cornwall had been under Christian influences for several -centuries. A candid view of Christianity in Ireland at this time can -only lead to the conclusion that it was more than half Pagan. The -tonsure of the Priests, or mode of cutting their hair, was exactly the -same as that of the Druid[9] Priests. It was not till the year 804 that -Monks and Clergy in Ireland were exempt from bearing arms,[9] that is -three hundred years after the coming of these Saints to Cornwall. -Women[9] were not exempt from fighting in the ranks till 500. In 672 a -battle was fought between the rival Monasteries of Clonmacnois and -Durrow. In 816 four hundred Monks and Nuns[9] were slain in a pitched -battle between two rival Monasteries. In 700 the Irish Clergy[9] -attended their Synods sword in hand, and fought with those who differed -from them on doctrinal points, leaving the ground strewn with -corpses. The Irish, no doubt with the wild unreasoning enthusiasm so -characteristic of the race, flung themselves into the new movement, and -the Monasteries were soon filled with Monks and Nuns with but a vague -realisation of what Christianity was; many no doubt would quickly weary -of the new life of rule, and yearn for one of greater variety; hence -possibly the swarming off to other lands in search of spiritual -adventures. - -The theory has been suggested that our army of Irish Saints were -fugitives, worsted in battle, escaping from their enemies, as Ireland at -this period was devastated with petty tribal wars. This theory, to say -the least, seems most plausible. - -Vague traditions have come down to us of incidents in the lives of the -Saints of this period which reveal something of the moral atmosphere in -which they lived and moved and had their being. At the end of Germoe -Lane there used to be a cairn of great stones, which an ignorant local -administration has long since cleared away. The legend of these stones -was that St. Keverne possessed a beautiful eucharistic chalice and -paten. St. Just the holy visited his friend and stole these sacred -vessels. St. Keverne discovered the loss and pelted the flying St. Just -with the great stones that fell at the end of Germoe Lane. The same -story appears in the life of St. Patrick where the annalist reveals his -bias in the words: "O wonderful deed! O the theft of a treasure of holy -things, the plunder of the most holy places of the world!" Straws show -the way in which the wind blows, and this fable and the comments of the -Irish annalist reveal the view of his age on the question of theft. - -Of course, we fully admit that the Irish Monasteries did become for a -time the home of the learning of the age such as it was. We do not -forget their great foundations in Germany and Northern Italy, and their -exquisite skill in the work of illumination as in the books of Durrow -and Kells; what we contend is that the Irish Saints in coming to -Cornwall were coming to a land which possessed a Christianity older and -purer than their own. That the Irish Saints were sincere according to -their lights we do not doubt, and being true to the light they possessed -they are worthy of being held in honour. - -It has been suggested as a solution for the reason of the Invasion of -the Irish Saints, that at the close of the fifth and the beginning of -the sixth century Cornwall was only partially christianized, that Pagans -and Christians were living side by side in amity, and that the Irish -Saints came to devote themselves to the conversion of the Pagans. -Whether this solution of the difficulty be true or no, at any rate it is -opposed to all that we can gather from the testimony of ancient writers -and hagiographers, and, if we accept it, we must reject their testimony -as utterly false and worthless. - -Of course, a distinction must be made between the Hibernian Saints and -the many Saints who came over from Brittany and settled in Cornwall. The -people of Brittany were one in language and character with the Cornish -to a far greater extent than the Irish; and, like the Cornish, the -people of Brittany had been under Christian influences several centuries -before the Irish had. - -Amongst the Saints who came from Ireland with Breaca and Germoe was -Gwithian, said to have been killed in the fighting with Teudor or -Theodore: Cruenna, killed at Crowan; Wendron, who made his settlement at -Wendron; Moran, who settled at Madron; Ia, who settled at St. Ives; St. -Levan, said to have been Breaca's brother, settled at St. Levan; the -names of others also have come down to us whom we need not mention. -Germoe is supposed to have been of royal descent, which means that he -was related to the petty king or chief of his sept or tribe. Breaca is -said in the vague traditions that have come down to us, originally to -have pursued the calling of a midwife; Leland, the great antiquary of -the reign of Henry VIII. when he visited Cornwall, saw many legendary -lives of the Cornish Saints, from which he made extracts. Most of these -lives were destroyed with much else that was beautiful and valuable at -the time of the Reformation. - -The last book of the lives of our local Saints was in the library of Sir -William Howard of Naworth Castle in Cumberland, in the reign of Queen -Elizabeth. It was carried thither by a Cornish Roman Priest, who took -refuge with him and acted as his Chaplain. This valuable volume has been -long lost sight of.[10] - -Amongst other things Leland tells us that when he visited Germoe, St. -Germoe's grave was pointed out to him; of the site of the grave even -tradition is now altogether silent; he also mentions having seen St. -Germoe's well "a little without the churchyard." - -At Breage Leland made some extracts from a life of St. Breaca that was -shown to him doubtless by the then Vicar of Breage; the life in those -days would be a very precious possession of our Church. From Leland we -gather that Breaca had begun her religious life in a Monastery founded -by the famous St. Bridget, Abbess of Kildare; as to the exact site of -this Monastery the statement made by Leland is somewhat vague and -difficult.[11] He goes on to tell us that after the struggle of the -Saints with Teudor and his defeat, Breaca first took up her abode at -Pencair, that is Tregoning Hill, and built a Church somewhere near -Chynoweth and Tolmena on the south eastern slopes of the hill. Of course -it is now quite impossible to locate the site of this ancient -Church;[12] at the best it would be small and poor and the materials of -its construction of no durable character. From this spot Leland tells us -that Breaca migrated to the site on which our present Church stands, a -spot which has been hallowed to the service of God by fifteen hundred -years of worship. Generation after generation through the whole course -of English history have there lifted up their hearts to God, and -generation after generation have been laid to rest under the shadow of -its sacred walls on the edge of the hill overlooking the sea. That -Breaca settled at Chynoweth is strangely borne out by facts. The two -fortified camps previously referred to are contiguous to the spot, and -the surrounding fields on the slopes of Tregoning hill, bear abundant -evidences of having been the site of a considerable settlement in Celtic -times; huge stones that once no doubt did duty in stone avenues and -circles have been piled by farmers of a latter age into boundary walls -of cyclopean character, whilst the curious may still find ancient querns -and stones fashioned to the rude uses of a forgotten age. - -In ancient deeds the Church of Breage bears the name of Eglos Pembroc -_i.e._ the Church on the Hill of Breaca. The name still lives on in the -name Pembro Farm, standing on the same hill. - -[Illustration: The Celtic Cross in Breage Churchyard.] - -When Breaca and those who followed her settled on the edge of the hill -on which our Church stands and when amicable relationships had been -established with those dwelling around, the first thing the Saint would -attempt would be the erection of a small Church, built of wattle work, -mud and stone. The only relic of that ancient period that still remains -is the red sand stone Celtic Cross by the Church door, unearthed a few -years ago in our churchyard; this ancient cross must have been brought -from a distance, as there is no red sand stone at all near. It is -interesting to speculate why it was brought to Breage from some distant -place; perhaps it was brought from Ireland, and to Breaca was fraught -with memories of a greater and older foundation. - -The site which Breaca selected for the building of her Church had been -probably the site of ancient heathen worship through many centuries. It -seems to have been the custom, wherever possible, for the early founders -of Christian Churches to select ancient heathen sites.[13] Their -building on these ancient sites was at once symbolical of the victory of -the Cross over heathendom, and evidence that the Demons which were -supposed to haunt their ancient sanctuaries were powerless against the -Saints either to harm or to hinder. The tower of Breage Church from its -position is visible far out to sea, and for miles over the surrounding -country from every point of the compass but the West. The hill on which -it stands, therefore, dominating alike land and sea, is just the spot -that the Priests of "a creed outworn" would have selected, at once -excellent for astronomical observations and for rivetting the distant -gaze of the votaries of their faith. - -When this site had been finally selected, a little hut would be erected -on the spot, in which Breaca would take up her abode and continue all -alone in fasting and prayer for a period of forty days; during the whole -of this time she would eat nothing from sunrise to sunset, except on -Sundays, when possibly she might partake of an egg, a morsel of bread -with a little milk mixed with water. When the forty days were -accomplished all had been done in the way of consecration.[14] - -The Churches thus built were naturally called after their founders, but -as Professor Rhys points out, it remained for a subsequent generation to -give them the informal title of Saint. It is well for us to realise that -these Cornish Saints were never formally canonized. - -We must bear in mind also that in Celtic times there were no Parishes -and no Dioceses. The little colonies of the Saints were independent -communities; they kept their own Bishops, who held quite a subordinate -position; at Kildare, St. Bridget had a number of Bishops under her -orders, so had Ninnock in Brittany and Columba in Iona. Our conception -of a diocese was altogether foreign to the Celtic mind.[15] Bishops were -kept as a species of ecclesiastical Queen Bee. The Saintship or headship -of the community was hereditary, descending from father to son. The -manner of life of the Saints was rude and barbarous in the extreme. They -wore a thick outer garment of wool or of skin, with an inner garment of -lighter texture; on their feet they wore sandals, they slept on hides -with a pillow of straw.[16] - -With the foundation of Churches at Breage and Germoe by Breaca and -Germoe, thick mist closes in again over the history of the Parish for -several hundred years. The communities these two Saints founded would -continue to live peacefully in all probability under the rule of their -successors until the coming of the time of the Saxon settlement. No -doubt at some time during this period of darkness the Church life and -administration would come to be organised more and more on the plan with -which we are familiar. - -As a line of Cornish Bishops in communion with Canterbury and the rest -of the Church gradually asserted their authority, the old rule of the -Saints over separate and distinct Christian communities would gradually -pass away, and thus the separate atoms would coalesce and become united -under one single authority--the Bishop of the Diocese in which their -community was settled. - -In 813 Egbert, the Saxon King, invaded Cornwall, and marched from one -end to the other, spreading fire and sword in his path. In 926 -Athelstan, the Saxon King, defeated the Cornish at the battle of -Hingeston Down near Calstock. The complete subjugation of Cornwall -quickly followed, and with this conquest the soil of our parish would -soon pass under the hands of Saxon lords, and the Saxon system of -government would quickly supplant altogether the old systems of Celtic -times. - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] See Professor Rhys "Origin and growth of Celtic Religion" pp. 225, -236, 245. - -[2] See Frazer's "Attis, Adonis and Osiris." - -[3] See Frazer's "Attis, Adonis and Osiris." - -[4] Account by Revd. Alexander Hislop, Minister of Arbroath in "The Two -Babylons." - -[5] Bucca connected with Scottish "Bogle." Bogle always in Scotland -means a disembodied spirit. Bucca with Bogle said to be akin to -Sclavonic "Bog" _i.e._ God. We incline to think Cornish "bucca" and -Scottish "bogle" may be taken as equivalent in meaning. See Wentz "Fairy -Faith of Celtic Countries" pp. 164 and 165. - -[6] See Andrew Lang "Secret of the Totem." Also W. Gregory "The Dead -Heart of Australia" pp. 188 to 195. - -[7] "{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} -{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} -{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} -{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}." - - _Diodorus Siculus._ - -[8] See Haddon and Stubbs. - -[9] See Stokes' "Celtic Church" and Baring Gould's "Lives of the -Saints." - -[10] See Borlase's "Age of the Saints." - -[11] Leland says "Campus Breacae in Hibernia in quo Brigida oratorium -construxit et postea Monaster, in quo fuit et S. Breaca." It will be -noticed that this statement does not support the view of the Revd. S. -Baring Gould that Breaca is a latinised form of Bridget, in his Lives of -British Saints. Professor Gwynn of Dublin informs the writer: "Breaca -could not possibly be a form of Bridget." In support of this view he -quotes Prof. Loth in La Revue Celtique vol. 29, p. 287 on St. Briac "Ce -Saint est donné comme irlandaise ce que semblerait confirmer la -terminaison. Il faut supposer une forme irlandaise 'Briace.'" - -[12] Leland: "Breaca aedificavit ecclesiam in Trenewith et Talmeneth ut -legitur in vita St. Elwini." - -[13] See "Byeways of British Archæology" by W. Johnson.--_Cambridge -University Press._ - -[14] See Bede. - -[15] Stokes' "Celtic Church." - -[16] Constitutions of Columba. - - - - -THE SAXONS. - -CHAPTER II. - - -The oldest written documents dealing with the life of the people of -Breage in the past are contained in William the Conqueror's Domesday -Book. The Domesday Book contains a general survey of all the land in -England, which William the Conqueror caused to be made after his -usurpation of the English throne in 1066. This book contains the -description of four manors in the Parish of Breage, Metela, Rentis, or, -as we call them, Methleigh and Rinsey, and the two smaller manors of -Tregew and Trescowe. The following is what we read concerning them. "The -Bishop has one manor which is called Metela[17] (Methleigh) which Bishop -Leofric held in the time of King Edward, and it rendered tribute for one -hide, but yet there is a hide and a half. Fifteen teams can plough this. -Thereof the Bishop has half a hide and one plough in demesne, and the -villeins one hide and eight ploughs. There the Bishop has fifteen -villeins and four bordars and three serfs and three cows and twenty -sheep and sixty acres of underwood and forty acres of pasture. Of this -manor the Count of Mortain has a yearly market, which Bishop Leofric -held in the time of King Edward." "Ulward holds of the Count one manor, -which is called Rentis, and therein is one hide of land. Twelve teams -can plough this. Ulward and his villeins have there one plough, one cow -and thirty sheep, and eight coliberts and four serfs and of pasture half -a league in length and the same in breadth." Attached to the manor of -Rentis or Rinsey the Count of Mortain had in demesne a quarter of a hide -of land; this portion was probably tilled by the Count's steward or -agent. "The Count has a manor which is called Trescowe, which Alnod held -in the time of King Edward and still holds of the Count, and it paid -tribute for the 1/16 of a hide. Three teams can plough this. Thereof -Alnod has 1/48 part of a hide in demesne, and the villeins the remaining -land and one plough. There Alnod has three bordars and one serf and -three acres of wood and 100 acres of pasture." "The Count has one manor -which is called Tregew, which Brismar held in the time of King Edward. -There is one quarter of a hide of land and it paid tribute for 1/16 of a -hide. Three teams can plough this. Heldric holds this of the Earl, and -has in demesne 1/32 of a hide and one plough, and the villeins have the -remaining land and one plough. There Heldric has six bordars and two -serfs and forty sheep and forty acres of pasture." - -The manors were grants of land made by the king to noblemen, or as they -were then called thanes. As a return for this gift of land the thane had -to go to the wars with the king and fight for him when the king desired -his services, and also he had to give assistance in the building of the -king's castles and strongholds. The land on a Saxon manor was dealt with -in two ways; part of it was held and cultivated by the thane himself, -this was called demesne land, and the other portion of it was cultivated -by the thane's tenants, who were called villeins. The villein would -usually hold a strip of land called a virgate, possibly equal to about -thirty acres. The thane provided him with two oxen and one cow and seed -sufficient for seven acres of land for each of the thirty acres or -virgates that he held. The villein or tenant was not a free man and -could not leave the manor without the consent of his lord, and in -transfers of manors the villeins passed with the land. They paid tribute -to their lord both in money and in the produce of the land they -cultivated; also on certain days in each week, according to the season, -they had to give their labour free on the land cultivated by the lord or -thane. Below these larger villein holders came a class called coliberts, -cottars or bordars, who held about five acres of land each. These -inferior tenants had to work for their lord without wage on each Monday -throughout the year and three days each week during the period of -harvest. Below these again were the serfs who worked on their lord's -demesne; they were slaves bought and sold in the market and often -exported from English ports across the sea as part of the commercial -produce of the country. Most of us are familiar with the story of Pope -Gregory the Great, who, walking in the Roman slave-market, saw a number -of fair-haired Saxon slave boys exposed for sale, and who, seeing these -children, vowed to do his best for the conversion of their country to -Christianity. On the Breage manors it is more than probable that the -slaves would not be Saxons but Celts. Many of the manor slaves were -slaves from birth, but it also seems not to have been an uncommon -practice for free men to sell themselves into slavery under the pressure -of want. - -The cultivated land round each ancient Saxon manor village was marked -off according to the custom of the time into three enormous unfenced -fields. Each householder in the village above the rank of slave had a -greater or less number of strips or shares in each of these three -fields. When the time for ploughing came round, as no villager possessed -a team of eight oxen--the number required to draw the primitive Saxon -plough--the team for the general ploughing was contributed jointly by -the villagers. The advantage of this system will therefore be obvious. -Custom decreed further that each year one of these great open fields -held in strips by the villagers should lie fallow; that another of them -should be sown with oats or rye; and a third should be sown down with -barley. Some of this last crop would be used for bread, but we fear -that a great deal of it would be devoted to drink, for the Saxons were -men who loved to drink themselves drunk, probably ascribing the ill -effects of the beer, enhanced no doubt by the relaxing climate, to -anything but the right cause. Not content with a large supply of beer, -the Saxons impressed the honey bee into the service of Bacchus, and -manufactured from honey great quantities of mead. It is probable that in -a seaboard parish like Breage, fish would be a staple article of diet; -from the smallness of the number of live stock on the manors, flesh can -only have been a rare article of diet, possibly enjoyed by the bounty of -the lord of the manor on the great festivals of the Church.[18] - -The vast mass of the country at this period was wild, uncultivated and -uninhabited. Such would be the condition of the greater part of the -Parish of Breage in Saxon times. The valleys would be filled with a -thick undergrowth, their beds forming impassable swamps, whilst the -higher ground would be more or less covered with furze and scrub, in -which wolves would make their lairs, preying upon the flocks and from -time to time carrying off a child that had strayed too far from the -parental hut of clay. - -The land measure called a hide made use of in the Domesday record is -supposed to have contained 120 acres;[19] a virgate was the term used -for a quarter of a hide or thirty acres. The virgate was again divided -into quarters, called ferlings, of 7-1/2 acres each. We must not -confound this word ferling with our present word "furlong," which -originally meant the longest furrow which it was deemed possible a team -of oxen could plough without stopping, viz., 220 yards. - -Unfortunately Domesday is silent with regard to mining matters, and -consequently we can gather nothing as to the nature of the mining -carried on in our Parish in Saxon times. There can be no doubt that -mining of an elementary character was carried on, but of its extent and -the number of those engaged in it, it would be rash to theorise. Knowing -nothing therefore of the number of the population engaged in mining we -can form no approximate estimate of the local population, but at any -rate we may conclude that it cannot have been great. The bordars and -slaves mentioned on the four manors only come to twenty-eight; on the -largest of the manors, Metela or Methleigh, there were fifteen villeins; -the number of villeins on the other three manors is not stated--simply -the fact that there were villeins; but as Methleigh was about the size -of the other three manors put together we may conclude these manors also -possessed in all about fifteen villeins. This would give us a total of -sixty-one villeins, bordars and serfs enumerated; if we multiply this -number by five for the women and children of their respective families, -it gives us a total agricultural population for the parishes of Breage -and Germoe of three hundred and five, with eighteen teams of oxen, four -cows, and ninety sheep. It is interesting to notice that the live stock -were enumerated before the slaves, presumably because they were the more -valuable. - -The houses or huts in which the Cornish villeins, bordars and serfs -lived on the Saxon manors would be composed of clay, with a hole in the -roof to let the smoke out; their inhabitants from constantly sitting in -the smoke suffered greatly from diseases of the eyes; of sanitation -there was none, and human life was exceedingly short. This condition of -things practically continued in Cornwall to the end of the Tudor period -as we gather from the picture of Cornish life given to us by Carew in -his "Survey of Cornwall" written in the reign of Elizabeth. - -Compelled by law to live on the manor on which they were born and to -give a great part of their labour free to their lord, the lives of the -ancient inhabitants of Breage, judged at any rate by our standards, -must have been dull and hard indeed. - -Each manor had its own court for the trial of cases which concerned only -persons living on the manor; this court was under the presidency of the -baron or thane, assisted by ten freemen. Where the freemen were not to -be found, as in our Breage manors, cases were tried by the Court of the -Hundred in which the manor was situated. The Court of the Hundred also -tried suits in the case of the larger manors which involved people -living in two or more different manors.[20] - -From the legal view of things we naturally pass to matters -ecclesiastical. In approaching this view of the life of our parish in -Saxon times it is interesting in the first place to note that the Manor -of Rinsey formed part of the great Manor and Hundred of Wilmington, -which comprised a large portion of the Lizard district, including Cury -and Gunwalloe. We have here a hint as to the reason why Breage, Cury and -Gunwalloe have always been ecclesiastically one until recent times, as -roughly they formed a considerable part of the Hundred of Winnington. -It was natural that this large Manor should be regarded as an -ecclesiastical unit. We find this unity complete in the earliest extant -ecclesiastical document, dated 1219, given in the Patent Rolls, and it -seems natural to conclude that this unity dates from the foundation of -the Saxon Manor. Breage was an [21]"ecclesia," Cury and Gunwalloe were -"Capellæ" in the _Inquisitio Nonarum_ of 1346; in other words there was -only one parish with several chapelries. Most probably in the Saxon -period the collegiate system prevailed in our part of Cornwall, and -Breage may have performed for the western half of the Meneage Peninsula -what St. Keverne did for the eastern half. We find mention of the Canons -of St. Keverne, but there is no record of the Canons of Breage. - -The Bishop Leofric referred to in the account of the Manor of Methleigh -became first Bishop of Cornwall and Crediton in 1046; in the same year -the title of the See was changed, and Leofric became the first Bishop of -Exeter. Possibly the Manor of Methleigh, which thus passed to the See of -Exeter, had originally been a portion of the settlement of Breaca which -had passed to the Bishops of Bodmin or St. Germans on the reorganization -of the Church in Saxon times on continental lines. There had been -Cornish Bishops in full communion with the See of Canterbury from 865, -governing their Sees from either Bodmin or St. Germans. - -The Earl or Count mentioned in the extracts from Domesday was Robert, -Earl of Cornwall, and Count of Mortain in Normandy. He was the bastard -half-brother of William the Conqueror. The Earls of Cornwall to all -intents and purposes within the bounds of the earldom were reigning -princes. The earldom was not hereditary; a special creation took place -at the death of each Earl, or in case of the earldom having been -forfeited through rebellion. Earl Robert obtained enormous spoils from -his half-brother William on his conquest of England; some idea of the -plunder thus obtained may be gathered from the fact that in Domesday we -find him possessed of 797 manors in various counties. - -After this brief record of our Parish and its Manors to be found in -Domesday, its history is again utterly lost in impenetrable obscurity -for 250 years, when documents, especially of an ecclesiastical nature, -became more frequent, and the main outline of its story becomes much -clearer. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[17] This ancient Manor of Methleigh was much bigger than the present -estate of Methleigh. It most probably comprised a large portion of the -present district of Kenneggie. This conclusion finds interesting support -from the names of two fields in Kenneggie, viz. the "Sentry" or -"Sanctuary Field" and "Church Field." It may be added that the Manor of -Methleigh passed from the Bishops of Exeter to the Dean and Chapter of -Exeter, and by them was alienated from the Church. - -[18] For the conditions of life on Anglo-Saxon Manor see Seebohm's -"Village Communities." - -[19] The exact size of the ancient Cornish acre is unknown. - -[20] Inderwick's "The King's Peace." - -It is fair to add that the Rev. T. Taylor informs me:--"An examination -of the Court Rolls given by Maitland makes it evident that where there -were few freemen, the villeins were suitors at the Court, and that it is -impossible to say that the absence of the former drove the villeins to -the Hundred Court." - -[21] In the _Inquisitio Nonarum_ of 1346 the phrase "ecclesia Sanctae -Bryacae cum capellis Sanctorum Correnti Wynyantoni et Gyrmough" occurs. - - - - -From the Norman Conquest to the Reformation. - -CHAPTER III. - - -In dealing with the Norman period, to make the story of Breage clear, it -is necessary in the first place again to refer briefly to the Earldom of -Cornwall. From the time of the Norman Conquest, when the earldom was -created, to the time of Edward the Black Prince, when it was exalted -into a duchy, the earldom was held by a series of twelve earls. Since -the time of the Black Prince the Duchy of Cornwall has always been held -by the eldest son of the reigning Sovereign. - -Giraldus describes the ecclesiastical polity of the Normans in no -flattering terms. If his version be correct--and there seems little -reason in the main to doubt it--the Normans simply regarded the -endowments of the Church as a means of satisfying the rapacity of a -swarm of needy ecclesiastics from the other side of the Channel. - -As the possession of the land was torn from the Saxon nobles and handed -over as largess to Norman Knights, so too the endowments of the Church -were regarded as fitting spoil for Norman Priests. According to -Giraldus, the method of the Norman Priest might be summed up in the -words "_pasci non pascere_." He also charges the Norman Clergy with -great ignorance and gross immorality, though many of the Saxon Clergy -were dispossessed by the Conqueror on the specious charge of immorality, -as the Prior and Canons of Plympton St. Mary, near Plymouth. Doubtless -the invectives of Giraldus are somewhat highly coloured, but after all -it seems but too clear that they contain more than a substratum of -truth. - -It is evident from existing remains that Norman Churches were built -both at Breage and Germoe, possibly about the year 1100. The building of -these Churches was no doubt at the expense of the Earls of Cornwall, in -accordance with the prevailing custom. Whether Saxon Churches succeeded -the ancient Celtic Churches it is impossible to say. If the Saxons did -find the humble Celtic Churches inadequate and built new ones, at any -rate no vestige or record of them survives. The remains of the Norman -Church built on the site of the present Church at Breage consist only of -a couple of fragments, but yet these two fragments are sufficient to -make it clear that the present Church was preceded by a Norman Church. A -projecting stone of bluish grey colour, let into the northern wall by -the door of the present vestry, bears distinct marks of Norman -workmanship, and some twenty years ago more than a fragment of a Norman -font was found outside the north door of our Church. This interesting -relic was incorporated into the new font at present in use, which was -fashioned on the model of the ancient Norman font at Cury. - -At Germoe, on the other hand, the remains of a Norman Church are -altogether more abundant. Here the foundations and lower portions of the -east and south walls are evidently of Norman workmanship, as also the -east and south walls of the south transept. During the restoration of -1891 the head of a Norman window was discovered built into the wall of -the south transept. This little window has been carefully restored by -the addition of two new jambs and a stone sill; on examination it will -be discovered that this Norman window arch is slightly chamfered. Other -discoveries made at the restoration were the Norman corbel heads, now -built into the outside face of the east wall of the north aisle, and the -bowl of a Norman stoup, which has been built into the south wall of the -nave, with a new arch placed over it. In the foundations of the Church -was also discovered the bowl of a mutilated Norman font, which now -stands on a new rough-hewn stem in the north transept. The date of this -font is placed by Mr. Sedding, in his "Norman Churches in Cornwall," at -about 1100. If we regard this date of 1100 as correct, it will serve as -some clue to the date of the building of the Norman Churches at Breage -and Germoe. Assuming this date to be approximately correct, the churches -were built by William Fitz Robert or William de Mortain, Earl of -Cornwall, son of Earl Robert de Mortain of Domesday Book. This -unfortunate nobleman joined his cousin Robert de Belesme in rebellion -against Henry I. with disastrous consequences. He was taken prisoner at -the battle of Tenchebrai and deprived of his estates and honours, and -his eyes were put out by the hands of the executioner. In his blindness -and misery he sought peace in the bosom of the Church, of which it seems -at least probable that he was a benefactor in the days of his -prosperity, and died a Cluniac Monk in the Monastery of Bermondsey. - -The question of patronage is one of extreme difficulty; it seems more -than probable that the patronage went to the builders of the Churches; -in this case the patronage of Breage would naturally pass at the -building of the Norman Churches to the Earldom of Cornwall. At any rate -we find the patronage of the benefice attached to the Earldom at the -beginning of the thirteenth century. - -Leland states that Germoe was originally a cell of St. Michael's Mount. -In this statement he is followed by Hals. It seems probable that on this -point Leland was misled by some statement made locally to him, as there -is no shred of existing evidence to support this view. Domesday and the -Monasticon are alike silent upon the subject and lend no countenance to -it. It is true Hals, apparently in support of this contention, evolved a -fictitious Inquisition of the Bishops of Winchester and Gloucester from -the depths of his subliminal consciousness. In this precious Inquisition -"Sancto Gordon," as Germoe is styled "in the Deanery of Kerrier," is -valued at £8. More to the point is the fact that in 1246 Richard, Earl -of Cornwall, made over the living of Breage with the Chapels of Cury, -Gunwalloe and Germoe to the Abbey of Hayles. - -In Lysons' Cornwall it is stated that the Chapel of St. Germoe was given -by William, Earl of Gloucester, to the Priory of St. James, Bristol. The -learned authors have here fallen into a mistake for which there is -reasonable excuse; they have confounded the church of St. Breoke[22] in -North Cornwall with St. Breage and a Church of Germot, possibly on the -Norman lands of the Earl of Gloucester, with Germoe. The Earl of -Gloucester never held any lands in this district. This statement of the -Lysons has also been freely used by subsequent writers of county -histories. It seems clear that at no period of its history was Germoe -ever ecclesiastically independent of Breage; it is probable that in -early times it was served like Cury and Gunwalloe by clergy living -together under the collegiate system at Breage. In the _Inquisitio -Nonarum_ of 1346 we read "ecclesia Sanctae Bryacae cum Capellis -Sanctorum Corenti, Wynyantoni et Gyrmough," which makes it quite clear -that at that date Germoe was included in the parish of Breage. - -With the coming of the Normans the value of Cornwall's mineral wealth -seems to have been quickly grasped. The successive Earls were greedy -foreigners, who valued their Fief mainly for what it would produce; it -was not so much Cornwall they wanted as Cornwall's wealth. By the time -of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, the mines of Cornwall -had become a source of immense wealth, 1224-72. Possibly the building of -Churches both at Breage and Germoe in Norman times may have been due to -the large influx of population owing to the opening up of local mines. - -At the beginning of the Norman period the people of Breage were living -under the ordinary Manorial and King's Courts, but very soon all this -was changed by the Norman Earls in their policy of mine development, and -the rule of the Stannary Courts was added. By the Charter of 1201, -Stannary Courts were set up which held civil and criminal jurisdiction -over the Miners or Tinners, as they were called. A Stannary Parliament, -consisting of twenty-four Senators, met at Hingston Down, near Calstock, -and chose a Speaker of its own; subsequently this Parliament for the -government of the Miners and the regulation of mining affairs seems to -have met at Truro. The Stannaries were divided into five districts, of -which Penwith and Kerrier formed one. The Cornish Miners thus came to be -formed into a little State by themselves; they paid no taxes to the King -but to the Stannaries, and these they paid not as Englishmen but as -Miners, Their Parliament was the mine Parliament, their Courts were the -mine Courts. The influence of this state of things was in the main bad; -it gave opportunity for the oppression and consequent debasement of the -Miners, and tended to make the people lawless and impatient of all -restraint. Long after this ancient system had passed away its evil -fruits remained in a certain lawlessness of disposition. Carew, writing -in the days of Queen Elizabeth, remarks that it was a matter of -notoriety in his day that the mining districts of Cornwall were farthest -behind the general level of culture. The reason of this we take to be -due, to a large extent, to the lawlessness, abuses and evils engendered -by the Stannary Courts, which at one and the same time placed the mining -population above the law and beyond the arm of its protection. - -The following letter of King Henry III., written in 1219 to Simon de -Apulia, an Italian Bishop of Exeter, referring to the living of Breage, -which is given in the Patent Rolls, is of interest. The two Vicars of -Breage mentioned in this document are the earliest of whom we have any -record. - -"The King to Simon, Bishop of Exeter, greeting; be it known that on the -resignation of William the son of Richard, Parson of the Churches of -Eglospenbroc, Egloscure and Winiton now deceased, i.e. the Churches of -Breage, Cury and Gunwalloe, Our Lord King John conferred the said -Churches on our beloved Clerk, William, the son of Humphrey, the -aforesaid Churches being in his appointment. But since the same William -was prevented from following his claim on account of the disturbed state -of the time, we now send him to your fatherly care, asking you to admit -no one else to those Churches contrary to the gift already made by the -King our Father, but to kindly institute the said William, showing -yourself kindly disposed in this matter for love of us." This document -under the specious phrase "disturbed state of the times" evidently -refers to the period of the Interdict which had only come to a close -some five years previously--a period when by the insensate wickedness of -King and Pope the whole apparatus of the religious life of the country -was thrown out of gear and ceased to perform its functions, to the -infinite sorrow and misery of many thousands of the people. - -In 1246 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, made over the -Church of Breage with the Chapelries of Cury, Gunwalloe and Germoe to -the Abbey of St. Mary, at Hayles in Worcestershire. The story of this -Prince reads more like a romance than a record of sober fact. He was the -second son of King John. Born in 1209, Richard was made a Knight and -Earl of Cornwall at the early age of sixteen. Before his seventeenth -birthday he had shewn himself to be a fearless soldier in the wars of -Gascony. Three years later he took the field again against the French -King, this time in the North of France. The campaign was barren of all -results, but memorable for the terrible slaughter of its battles and the -ruin and misery wrought upon the poor peasants of the country in which -it was waged, who knew less than nothing at all as to what it was all -about. In this terrible campaign Richard lost his friend Gilbert De -Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Richard consoled himself for the loss of his -friend by marrying his widow, whose beauty and golden tresses the old -chronicler delights to dwell upon. - -This warlike brother of an unwarlike king bitterly inveighed against the -royal favourites who battened upon the wealth of the nation. "England -has become a vineyard without a wall, wherein all who pass by pluck off -her grapes," he exclaimed. - -In 1241 we find Richard at Rome endeavouring to mediate between Pope -Gregory IX. and his mighty brother-in-law the Emperor Frederick II., -"Stupor Mundi," the most gifted sovereign of his age, if not of any age. -The Pope was practically the Emperor's prisoner at Grotto Ferrata, and -during the terrible August heat, which was accompanied by pestilence, -Richard passed to and fro between Pope and Emperor. At length the -negotiations were put an end to by death claiming the aged Pontiff. - -His beautiful wife Isabella de Clare died at an early age, and Richard -with a sad heart went off to the Crusades, where, by liberal largess, -wrung from the serfs of his fiefs no doubt, rather than by the sword, we -read he was able to open the gates of Jerusalem and raise the banner of -the Cross over Nazareth and Bethlehem. - -Returning from the Holy Land, the ship in which he sailed was beset by a -terrible storm. In the hour of extreme danger Earl Richard made a vow to -the Virgin that, if by the mercy of God the ship was saved from the -storm, he would build a great abbey to her honour and richly endow it. - -On his return, in obedience to his vow, he set about the founding of -Hayles Abbey in Worcestershire on a princely scale, to which we have -seen he made over the Church of Breage with its three Chapelries. The -Church of this Abbey was of the same dimensions as those of Gloucester -Cathedral; it was consecrated in 1251 amidst a scene of the greatest -splendour, the King and Queen with the majority of the Bishops and many -Barons being present. Now only a heap of grass-grown ruins marks the -site of this great foundation. - -It was in the days of Earl Richard that the tin mines of Cornwall came -to be developed on a large scale, and they became to him a source of -immense wealth--in fact, a golden key by which he was able to unlock the -doors of attainment both in Palestine and Germany. We gather that this -Earl was most kindly disposed towards the Jewish race, which assertion -lends colour to the statement of Carew that the tin trade of Cornwall in -ancient times was largely in the hands of Jews, who grievously exploited -the Cornish Tinners. - -In 1257 Richard was chosen King of the Romans after the payment of -immense bribes to a number of the electing Princes. He returned to -England after two years of fruitless war to maintain his shadowy -kingdom. He commanded a wing of the Royal Army at the battles of Lewes; -on the rout of the royal forces he hid himself in a windmill, from which -he was ignominiously dragged and sent a prisoner to the Tower of London. -He was released in 1265, and on his death in 1272 his body was laid in -the great Abbey which he had founded. - -His son, Edmund, succeeded him as Earl of Cornwall; this Prince -presented to the Abbey of Hayles one of the most famous relics of the -Middle Ages, a reputed phial of the Blood of Christ. This revered relic -was kept in a shrine of great magnificence. A curious and interesting -report was made on the nature of this supposed relic by the King's -Commissioners at the time of the Reformation.[23] - -We have a practically complete list of the Vicars of Breage from the -appointment of William, son of Humphrey in succession to William, son of -John, in 1219. In the deed already quoted, William, son of Richard, is -described as the Parson of Breage; this means he was the Rector of the -Parish in the full sense of the word. With the grant of the Church of -Breage with its three Chapelries to the Abbey of Hayles the day of the -Rectors of Breage was over. - -The Abbey of Hayles now stood in the place of Rector, and the Abbot -appointed a Vicar or substitute in his room, who acted as the deputy of -the Abbot and Convent in the parish. The first of the Vicars was Master -Robert de la More, who, as well as his two next successors, was -appointed by the Bishop, _jure devoluto_; the Abbot of Hayles finding it -difficult no doubt to fill up such a distant and remote appointment. -Robert de la More seems to have been a person of note in his day.[24] He -was only Vicar of Breage for three months; he subsequently became a -Canon of Glasney, an ancient Collegiate foundation near Penryn. In 1276 -he was Vicar of Yeovil, and of sufficient importance for the King to -address a letter to him with reference to the raising of a loan for the -carrying on of the Scottish Campaign. Of his successor, Master Stephanus -de Arbor, we are able to gather no particulars, though the figure of his -immediate successor, Sir Pascasius rises clear and distinct for a moment -out of the mists of the past. It may be well here to remark that the -prefix "Master" meant one who had taken the degree of Master of Arts at -either of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. "Sir," on the -contrary, was a title given to those who had studied at the Universities -but who had not taken their Master's degree; this we fancy would in the -main be due to poverty rather than laziness or lack of ability, as a -Master's degree in those days entailed a longer period of residence at -the Universities than now. We may conclude that Sir Pascasius was a -Cornishman and a member of the clan Pascoe. His name survives in the -archives of the Bishops of Exeter, embalmed in a document dated July -1310, which gives a lurid picture of the brutal methods of the age. The -Chapel of Buryan was the King's Peculiar, and, as such, was outside the -jurisdiction of the Bishop. It was held by Dean and Canons of its own. A -dispute had long been simmering between the Dean and the Bishop of -Exeter as to the appointment of one John de Beaupré as Canon of Buryan, -the Dean refusing to admit him. As a step in this long dispute it seems -that Bishop Walter de Stapleton must have issued a commission to certain -clergy, possibly for the purpose of instituting John de Beaupré to the -vacant canonry in the Chapel of Buryan. The commission was composed, -amongst others, of Sir Pascasius, the vicar of Breage, the vicars of St. -Keverne, Constantine, St. Erth, Sithney, Grade and Landewednack. Dean -Matthew, in seeking redress through the King's Court, complained that -when this posse of Clergy arrived at Buryan and found the doors of the -Church barred, they proceeded to heap abuse upon him of the most -untoward character, and then, having retired, they returned with a -battering ram and broke in the doors of the Church, proceeding most -unmercifully to beat the defenders of the door in the hour of victory, -and, in the case of one of the Dean's servants, to have danced upon his -prostrate body so that his life was despaired of. Having thus celebrated -their victory they proceeded to exercise jurisdiction[25] in the Chapel. -For this wild assertion, presumably of episcopal authority, they were -all heavily fined. - -Shortly after this event Bishop Stapleton pronounced Pascasius to be -old, blind and infirm, and appointed Master Benedict de Arundelle, -Professor of Canon Law, his coadjutor. This coadjutor was a scion of the -ancient family of Arundell of Lanherne; he afterwards became Provost of -Glasney, which office he ultimately resigned whilst still remaining one -of the Canons of that Foundation till the time of his death. In addition -to his Canonry of Glasney, he also held the Rectory of Phillack, the -patronage of which was then vested in the Arundell family. Whilst -speaking of Glasney we may add that a third Vicar of Breage, Sir William -Pers, in 1466 became a Canon of that ancient house. - -The first Vicar of Breage appointed by the Abbot and Convent of Hayles -was David de Lyspein in 1313. The name of this man makes it clear that -he was a foreigner, most probably a Gascon; possibly a more correct -rendering of his name would have been David de L'Espagne or David of -Spain. Froissart in his Chronicles has a good deal to say of a gallant -Gascon Knight, Roger d'Espaign, famous for his strength and valour, who -dwelt at the Court of the Count de Foix. Though these two names are -spelt somewhat differently they are practically one and the same, as in -the fourteenth century it was usual to find proper names continually -spelt in different ways. At this time Gascony was a fief of the English -Crown, and our Kings, Bishops and Nobles were continually passing -between the two lands on missions of government, diplomacy or war, and -numbers of Gascon Clergy found their way in their trains to our shores. -It may well have been that David de Lyspein was one of these. - -Sir Pascasius, whatever else he may have been, was a Pascoe, and a -Cornishman. It was one thing to pay tithes to a Cornishman who was -moreover the actual _Persona_ of the parish, and another thing to pay -tithes to the Abbot and Convent of Hayles, of whom no Cornishman knew -anything, and whose representative or vicar was a foreigner, possibly -barely able to speak the English language, let alone the Cornish tongue, -and knowing nothing of the ways or habits of the people. England at -this period was overrun with French, Italian and Spanish Clergy, and the -whole of our Western diocese was in a state of ferment at having foreign -clergy thrust into the parishes. At Yealmpton, in S. Devon, the French -vicar thrust upon the people, on the day of his institution, had to fly -from the church with the Archdeacon and his retinue, in momentary danger -of being "detruncated." At Tavistock and Plymouth similar assaults were -perpetrated upon foreign clergy forced upon the people. - -In 1339 a brief was issued by the King to Bishop Grandisson, who himself -was a Swiss noble, born on the Lake of Geneva, commanding him to certify -what dignities, prebends and other ecclesiastical benefices were held by -foreigners in the Diocese of Exeter. - -Taking all these circumstances into consideration it would have been -surprising if David de Lyspein had had a good time amongst his Cornish -parishioners. The few documents that have come down to us all accentuate -the fact that they gave him a rather poor time. In the registers of -Bishop Grandisson we gather from a document bearing date 1335 that at -some time previous, he, together with Brother Thomas, a Monk of Hayle, -and Proctor of his Convent, had been grievously wounded by Henry de -Pengersick, a man of position. No doubt the affray had occurred in an -attempt to collect tithe or other dues. In proceeding to forcible -resistance Henry de Pengersick was but carrying into effect the popular -sentiment, so strong at this time practically throughout the whole of -England. It is interesting to note that this armed resistance came from -an owner of Pengersick. A tradition of the lawlessness and wild deeds of -the owners of Pengersick has been handed down to the present time -amongst the country people of the district, and like most traditions -seems based on truth. Judging from the fierce attack on David de -Lyspein, or David of Spain, and Brother Thomas, the Militons, who came -after, in their wild deeds were but following in the footsteps of those -who had gone before. The greater excommunication was placed upon Henry -de Pengersick, but as the wounds inflicted did not permanently prevent -the two clergy from performing the duties of their office, it was -removed on the payment of due damages. However, matters do not seem to -have mended much; in 1337 a decree was issued[26] granting protection to -the Abbot and Convent of Hayles, "who were grievously hindered in -receiving the fruits and profits of St. Breaca in Kerrier by persons who -threaten and assault their servants and carry away the goods of the -Abbey." The people were evidently of opinion that paying tithes to a -Worcestershire Convent and a foreigner Vicar was beyond all reason. We -see going on in this remote Cornish Parish that which was taking place -all over the country, alienating the Church from the hearts of the -people, and preparing the way for the great upheaval of the Reformation. -No doubt the heart of poor David de Lyspein in the gloom of the Cornish -mists and rain, as the Atlantic tempests howled round his rude tenement, -yearned for the forest-clad hills of the sunny South, the scent of the -pines and the view of the far-off ranges capped with eternal snow that -separated his land from Spain. Cornwall was then rude, barbarous and -remote, whilst Gascony was softened and humanized with Provençal culture -and light. - -In 1340 an event occurred which showed that in spite of strained -relationships, clergy and people could at times make common cause in a -common enterprise. A tradition of the eighteenth century still lingers -at Germoe of a clergyman rushing from the pulpit demanding fair play to -participate in the spoil of the wreck which the sea was bearing in upon -Praa Sands. If this tale be not mythical, this clergyman had at any rate -fourteenth century precedent for his action. In 1340 an Irish ship came -ashore at Porthleven, when sixty-one persons, including several -"religious," i.e. persons in orders of religion, broke up the vessel -into pieces and carried away the cargo.[27] - -It is not fair to judge the whole life of the community by cases coming -before the Courts, but still these cases are sufficiently frequent to -bring home to us the utter lawlessness and violence of the times. When -we compare the religious life of the fourteenth century as revealed in -the State Papers and the Episcopal and Chapter Records with the outlook -and condition of the Church to-day, in spite of dark streaks across the -horizon of the future, we cannot but be conscious of a wonderful -progress, and an exchanging of crude materialism and superstition for -high and noble ideals. - -The greatest event in its consequences and at the same time the most -terrible in the story of the period between the Norman Conquest and the -Reformation is the visitation of the Plague or Black Death. The Plague -seems to have reached England in 1348; it spread from Dorsetshire to -London in the November of that year. In the Eastern Counties whole -districts were depopulated by this terrible scourge; and magnificent -Churches in remote and lonely parishes still attest the large -populations that dwelt around them and gathered in them for worship -before the coming of the Black Death. - -In our own immediate neighbourhood, at Bodmin alone 1,500 persons died -in the terrible visitation. The Clergy seem to have been the greatest -sufferers of all, partly no doubt due to their office bringing them in -close contact with the dying, and partly no doubt due to the confusion -between dirt and holiness that subsisted in the mediæval mind. To -realise the awful mortality in the West amongst the Clergy at this -period it is only necessary to go over the endless lists of institutions -in the Registers of Bishop Grandisson; not seldom three institutions to -one parish occur in the course of a single year. As a country engaged in -a long and desperate war is glad almost to accept recruits of any kind -in its closing stages, so the Church, as this awful epidemic proceeded, -accepted recruits for the army of God she would have scorned in its -beginning. The result of this acceptation was altogether bad; her -influence began to wane, and she lost touch with the life of the people. - -Slowly but gradually the black shadow moved westwards extending itself -over the County, leaving in its track half-peopled villages and the -survivors dwelling under the shadow of an awful and nameless dread. In -the extreme West of the County the ravages of the pestilence seem to -have been specially terrible in 1362. It seems more than probable that -Sir William Pellour, one of our Vicars of Breage, died of it in this -year. Bereft in many cases of the majority of those they loved, and with -a vision of death and mortality in its most horrible forms graven upon -their minds, the view of life of the mass of the people became utterly -changed, and this naturally reflected itself upon the whole religious -outlook of the time. - -Another subtle and deep influence was beginning to stir at this period, -even in the remote wilds of Cornwall. On the Continent, in Italy -especially, the human mind in the previous century had begun to awake -from the torpor and lethargy of a thousand years. The thirteenth century -was a glorious springtime of the human soul, when art, philosophy and -the desire to know, came back to the human mind. This tide of new life -and light in the fourteenth century began to throb and move, even in the -remote backwaters of English life, filling the minds of the people with -vague yearnings after better things, and producing a condition of deep -spiritual dissatisfaction. This spirit found some expression in the -great number of Oratories in the leading private houses, that were -licensed, all over the Western Diocese. At this time here in Breage, we -read that on 2nd Dec. 1398, John Rynsy of Godolghan, and Elinora, his -wife, obtained a licence from Bishop Stafford, for Oratories both at -Rynsy and Godolghan, with the stipulation that on Sundays and other -Feasts they should resort to their Parish Church, whenever it was -conveniently possible for them to do so. Again on 6th September 1400, -John Pengersick and Joan, his wife, obtained from Bishop Stafford, a -licence for a third Oratory in the Parish at their mansion of -Pengersick. - -Whilst the gentry were making provision for regular worship in their own -houses, new Parish Churches were being built in almost every parish. -Practically nine-tenths of the Parish Churches in Devon and Cornwall are -the product of this age. The people were seeking to express in stone the -new ideal that was moving in their minds, and which was destined to find -fuller and deeper expression in the Reformation. - -Our Churches of Breage and Germoe we owe to this wonderful quickening of -religious life in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The old Norman -Church at Breage was pulled down in the fifteenth century as inadequate -and unworthy, and the present cruciform Church, with its tower sixty-six -feet in height, of beautiful workmanship and restful proportions, reared -in its place. The Church outwardly to-day is very much as the fifteenth -century builders left it. The tiny transepts, which, like the beautiful -south porch, externally suggest small battlemented towers, were -evidently originally used as side chapels. The frescos with which the -whole of the interior walls were once covered, were doubtless painted -shortly after the building of the Church. - -[Illustration: Frescos of St. Christopher and Our Lord in Breage -Church.] - -Fresco painting is the oldest of the arts, its crude beginnings reaching -back to the days when palæolithic man sought to exercise it upon the -walls of the caverns of the Dordogne. In Egypt the ancient monuments -bear witness to its existence from the remotest antiquity. The Etruscans -seem to have brought the art with them from the East to Italy, which -became in future ages its true home, and where it attained to its -highest perfection and beauty. The Romans, probably owing to Greek -influences, carried the art much farther than the Etruscans had done. -Revived in Italy in the thirteenth, the art reached its highest -perfection in the fifteenth century. From Italy the fashion of mural -painting spread, and by the fifteenth century seems to have become -common even in Cornwall, judging by the records of the survival of -numerous fragments. Our frescos were probably painted very soon after -the building of the Church, in the latter half of the fifteenth century. -An important fact bearing upon fresco painting was the extreme rapidity -with which the work had to be accomplished, as the secret of its -permanency rested in the plaster upon which it was placed, being damp -and newly laid. It will strike the observer at Breage that the fresco of -St. Christopher and that of the Christ, though crude in execution, are -full of character and force, which the wooden and purely conventional -figures of the other frescos entirely lack. It seems evident therefore -that the former owe their origin to a different hand than the latter. - -The fresco of St. Christopher arrests the eye immediately on entering -the Church through the south door. This was doubtless the intention of -the designer of the fresco, as to see St. Christopher on entering a -Church, according to mediæval superstition was a harbinger of good luck. -This may partly account for the superstition that still lingers, that to -enter the Church by the west door, which is never used, save for the -bearing out of the dead at funerals, foreshadows untimely death. - -The windows of the Church, before the pillage and vandalism let loose -upon it by the Reformation, were all of stained glass, of which several -beautiful fragments have come down to us, as the head of St. Veronica in -the chapel at the end of the north aisle, and the heads of the two -angels in the south window of the chapel, on the south side of the -Church. The Reformation, like all great upheavals, beneficent in -themselves, led to the unchaining of the spirit of fanaticism and -rapine. The spirit of liberty was fanned into a flame in France before -the Revolution by the noblest and purest spirits in the country; yet who -could blame them for the frenzied orgies of the Terror? The few -fragments of fifteenth century glass were discovered with the bones and -skulls of two almost complete skeletons in the walled-up staircase -leading to the Rood Loft, in the north wall of the Church, at the time -of the restoration in 1891. The probable solution seems that the -Commissioners, who visited Breage 22nd April, 1549, to ascertain that -the injunctions of Edward VI. were duly fulfilled, ordered the -destruction of the windows, as containing figures of the Saints and -emblems of idolatry. Possibly also stone tombs were destroyed and -desecrated, partly in a spirit of iconoclasm, and partly from the spirit -of plunder. We can imagine at this juncture some one more pious or -superstitious than his fellows gathering the fragments of beautiful -glass, and bones torn from their tombs within the Church, and placing -them in the cavity of the broken stairway in process of being walled -up.[28] - -The granite support of the Credence Table and the Piscina in the chancel -were exhumed from the foundations of the Church during the restoration -and placed in their original situation: also the rose Piscina and the -pedestal on which it at present stands were unearthed at this time. The -pedestal in question, it may be stated, has nothing whatever to do with -the Piscina, the date of which is most probably coeval with the Church, -but is evidently the base of a font of Jacobean origin. The granite bowl -masquerading as a stoup in the porch is not of ecclesiastical origin at -all; its original use was evidently for grinding corn in primitive -times. It may be interesting to mention the discovery during the -restoration, beneath the floor of the Church, near where the pulpit now -stands, of six skeletons lying uncoffined side by side, the skulls of -all of them being perforated with bullet wounds; the teeth in each skull -were almost perfect, suggestive of violent and untimely deaths. The -story of this tragedy has long since faded into oblivion; possibly these -skeletons belonged to victims of some fierce act of military discipline -or retaliation in the Parliamentary Wars. - -The restoration of Germoe Church was taken in hand a century earlier -than that of Breage, for what reason it is impossible to say. At this -period the mining operations of the Parish were mainly centred round -Germoe, from Trewarvas Head to Laseve, and between the two hills of -Tregoning and Godolphin. It may well have been that the restoration of -Germoe Church was begun at an earlier date because it stood in the most -populous portion of the parish. Sometime in the fourteenth century a -north aisle was added to the small Norman cruciform Church, and then a -little later a further enlargement and embellishment was made by the -addition of the north transept, and the present chancel to some extent -reared upon Norman foundations; the south transept, as we have -previously stated, was of Norman origin. For some reason or other, the -work seems to have been arrested when half carried through; the builders -had gone as far as to replace the Norman arch in the south transept by a -twin archway,[29] the natural development of which would have been the -addition of a south arcade. Instead of this the present south doorway -was added to the Church, superseding an earlier entrance. The porch -built over this door was not added until the next century, possibly -about the time of the rebuilding of Breage Church. The grotesque -carvings of monkeys on the corbel stones supporting the ends of the -copings of the porch have evidently been taken from the older building. -A feature of the chancel at Germoe is the canopied arch over the present -sedilia and piscina. I take it that this beautiful arched aperture -originally contained a tomb, possibly of a de Pengersick, or it may have -been used as a sepulchre in connection with the Easter Festival; at -any-rate, its true significance has long been lost sight of under the -hand of the spoiler and the restorer. - -[Illustration: St. Germoe's Chair.] - -The most interesting feature for the ecclesiastical antiquarian is not -the Church itself, but the curious edifice in the Churchyard, known as -St. Germoe's Chair. Tradition says this was erected by a member of the -de Pengersick family. When Leland, the great antiquary, visited Cornwall -in the reign of Henry VIII., he mentions both St. Germoe's Tomb, St. -Germoe's Chair and St. Germoe's Well. The water still gurgles and -bubbles from the spring by the roadside, from whence the Saint slaked -his thirst and supplied his simple wants, but the very site of his tomb -is long forgotten, the crude and vulgar bigotry of an intervening age -having no place in its system for such memories. Germoe's Chair has been -the fruitful source of many curious speculations and ingenious theories -as to its origin. There can be but little doubt, however, that its -original use was in connection with the Palm Sunday celebrations of the -mediæval Church. It seems to have been customary on Palm Sundays for -some of the Clergy, bearing a cross which was covered or muffled at some -point in the service, to issue from the Church, followed by a portion of -the congregation in procession bearing palms or their substitutes in -their hands. A booth was erected in the Churchyard: sometimes this was -of stone and of a permanent character like Germoe's Chair. Arrived at -this erection the officiating Priest read the Gospel for the day; at -this point another procession issued from the Church, headed by a Priest -bearing the Host, and a number of children following a cross, decorated -with wreaths of green leaves and singing "Blessed is He that cometh in -the name of the Lord." The two groups then mingled together, the muffled -cross was removed, and a distribution of bread or alms was made from the -booth or pavilion, or, as in the case of Germoe, from what is now -called Germoe's Chair. The united processions then, following the -Priests, returned to the Church, where the service was continued to its -close.[30] - -Cornwall from its position escaped the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses. -During this outwardly brutal and sordid period, whilst the Barons were -hacking themselves in pieces, and successive Kings were merely -"landlords" of England for the time being, the true heart of the nation -was beginning to throb slowly with the pulses of a new life. I doubt -much if Master William Pensans and his successors onward to Sir William -Pers, and their flocks at Breage and Germoe, troubled themselves very -much about the battles and rebellions and judicial murders that made up -the history of England during the times in which they lived. Rumours of -these terrible stirrings would be brought to them from time to time by -wandering Friars or the Pilgrims passing through the Parish on their way -to St. Michael's Mount, which was then one of the most popular places of -pilgrimage in England. Doubtless many of the Pilgrims would make Breage -the last halting place for the night, and move on to St. Michael's Mount -on the following morning. These Pilgrims would be a motley crew of every -class and grade, some seeking no doubt for the forgiveness of heinous -deeds and crimes through the mediation of St. Michael, others seeking -health and often finding it, not by the help of the Saint but through -change of air and scene. Childless parents of great possessions often -made pilgrimages to distant shrines in search of an heir, and still -others were pilgrims because they loved change and to live close to -Nature, though perhaps they never knew it. - -In 1471 after the Battle of Barnet a strange band of Pilgrims visited -St. Michael's Mount. John, Earl of Oxford, who had escaped from the -slaughter of that terrible battle, came by sea to the Mount with a band -of followers disguised as Pilgrims. They landed, simulating deep -devotion, and obtaining admittance to the Castle, drew arms from beneath -their Pilgrims' cloaks and rushed upon and overpowered the small -garrison. Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, who was sent to retake the -Castle, was slain in the attempt on the sands between the Mount and the -shore--in his death, it is said, fulfilling a curse of former years. -After a siege of six months the Earl of Oxford and his men surrendered -upon terms, the Earl being allowed to retire to France, from whence he -returned with Henry of Richmond, to share in the victory of Bosworth -Field. - -Pilgrims, wandering, preaching Friars and merchants, who came to the -West for the purchase of tin, would practically at this time be the sole -sources of news and connecting links with the outer world. Men then led -isolated lives, less dependent upon their fellows for daily needs and -wants. The phrase "we are all members one of another" has a fuller and -deeper meaning for us than it had for them. - -We cannot conclude the account of this period without a brief allusion -to the names of the incumbents from the time of David de Lyspein -onwards. The particulars of their lives have long since faded into -oblivion; whether good or bad, wise or foolish, their memories have -utterly faded. The fact of the nationality, however, of many of them -survives in their names. Henry Cretier (1362) from his name we take to -have been one of the swarm of French Priests that at this time were -spread over the country. The great majority of the others seem to have -been Cornishmen: Sir John Yurl bears a name common enough amongst the -Cornish Clergy at this time. Sir William Pellour of course was one of -the numerous Cornish family of Pellar and Sir William Pers would now be -known as William Pearce. Sir John Gode or Ude bears also a name common -in the Cornish Priesthood of the period. Sir William Lehe (1445) was, we -fancy, from the Penwith Peninsula, from the similarity of his name to -the name of a manor in that district. Master William of Penzance (1403) -and Master Thomas Godolphin (1505) were, of course, undoubtedly -Cornishmen, the latter, we are led to conclude, being a son of Sir John -Godolphin, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1504, the founder of the fortunes of -his family. Of the lives of these men, alas! we can know nothing, beyond -the fact that in varying degrees they testified to the unseen and -spiritual, and, in spite of imperfections and weaknesses, held up the -torch of a Divine light for the illumination of a dark and degraded age. - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[22] "Carta W. Com. Glouc. testificante quod R. Com. pater suus dederat -Richardo Clerico suo omnes ecclesias terrae suae de Cornubia cum -capellis et pertinentis suis viz: ecclesiam de Eglosbrec, ecclesiam -Commart, ecclesiam de Egloshiel, ecclesiam de Eglosvant, ecclesiam de -Egloscraven et capellam Sancti Germot" etc., etc. See Dugdale's -Monasticon. - -[23] See Gasquet's "Henry VIII. and the Monasteries." - -[24] See Mr. Thurstan Peter's "Collegiate Church of Glasney." - -[25] See Prebendary Hingeston-Randolph's Registers of Bishop Stapleton. -"Et in ea jurisdiccionem ordinariam exercere et alia diversa in hac -parte attemptare presumpserunt." - -[26] Patent Rolls. - -[27] State Papers, 14 Edward III. - -[28] It is possible that this vandalism may have been committed during -the time of Independent ascendancy. - -[29] See Sedding's "Norman Architecture in Cornwall." - -[30] See Walcott's "Sacred Archæology" pp. 421, 423. Also Dr. Roch's -"Church of our Fathers," etc. - - - - -The Reformation to the end of the Commonwealth. - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Master John Jakes, bachelor in decrees, of whom we know nothing beyond -the fact that he died and was buried in Breage churchyard, became Vicar -in 1510, when no cloud loomed upon the ecclesiastical horizon. He who at -that date had foretold the ultimate consequences of the marriage of -Henry VIII. to a Spanish Princess would have been put down as a fool and -a dreamer. It would have seemed obvious to the ecclesiastical -politicians of that day that if the marriage affected at all the -fortunes of the Church it would be in the direction of drawing closer -the bonds with Rome. Possibly, here and there, there may have been those -who saw the signs of the coming of the storm in what seemed to them a -more or less distant future; and probably they dismissed the -uncomfortable thought with the sixteenth century equivalent of "_après -moi le déluge_." Yet within thirty years the deluge had been unloosed -and swept all before it. Within three years of the demise of John Jakes -the great Abbey of Hayles, with its broad acres and vast patronage, was -dissolved; its stately buildings and magnificent Church were falling -into ruins, turned into stone quarries for new mansions, and its -Brethren scattered, never to be re-united. - -John Jakes was succeeded in 1536 by John Bery, M.A., the last Vicar to -be appointed by the Abbot and Convent of Hayles. Breage escaped the -terrible ecclesiastical tempest that in places less remote was sweeping -all before it. Though Hayles Abbey was in ruins and the Brethren -scattered, things continued in this little far-away appanage of the -great House much in the same way as heretofore, until the terrible year -1549. The Cornish, like the people of Wales, were bitterly opposed to -the Reformation in all its works and ways, and would have none of it. As -an instance of West Country methods in dealing with the new innovations, -we may quote the case of the parishioners of Sampford Courtenay, on the -northern skirts of the great waste of Dartmoor. On Sunday, 9th June, -1549, the new service in English was used for the first time in place of -the Mass, in compliance with the royal injunctions. The people would -have none of it, and on the following day compelled the Parish Priest, -under threats of what they would do to him, to resume his vestments and -say Mass as usual. In the April of this same year the storm had broken -in all its violence in our own part of Cornwall. Commissioners had been -sent throughout the County to examine the Churches and have all images -found in them removed and destroyed, and also, in plain language, to -plunder the Churches of their valuable plate, jewels and vestments, in -the specious name of religion. The Commissioners were required to -inquire into the doctrinal character of the preaching in the various -Churches, and to ascertain that the services were no longer held in -Latin but in the English tongue. A Commissioner named Body was making -his official examination at Helston Church--bent, no doubt, like the -majority of his fellows, on spoil as well as iconoclasm--when he was -stabbed to death by an enraged Priest, who had attended the visitation -in the company of one Kiltor of St. Keverne. This spark set the county, -already smouldering with discontent, in a blaze of rebellion. The -people, under the influence of the Clergy, flocked together from various -parts of the County, committing many barbarous outrages. Humphrey -Arundell of St. Michael's Mount placed himself at the head of this -rapidly-growing rabble of peasantry, and with many of the Clergy the -march upon Exeter was begun. - -Job Militon of Pengersick Castle was at the time Sheriff of the County, -but he was powerless in the face of a force that by the time Bodmin was -reached had grown to six thousand strong. It is curious to note that -this enthusiastic but undisciplined host, marching to its doom, under -the walls of Exeter, contained within itself a strong leaven of -socialism. It seems to have been generally agreed, at any rate amongst -the rank and file, that all land should in future be held in common, and -that all enclosing fences should be obliterated. A few years previously -Germany had been throbbing with the same spirit, and the German Peasants -had been moved to throw off the yoke of the oppressing nobles, their -minds full of dreams of a sixteenth century millennium. Both these -efforts, due to opposite trains of events, had their origin in the -spirit of the age striving vaguely after dim ideals, and both were -trampled on and extinguished with ruthless force and cruelty. Humphrey -Arundell perished on the scaffold, and thousands of his deluded -followers in the fields and bye-ways, cut down by a merciless soldiery. - -John Bery seems to have preferred monotony and safety at Breage to a -life of adventure in the field; at any rate, he lived on as Vicar of -Breage till the day of his death in 1558. He doubtlessly conformed -outwardly, if not in his heart, to the new order of things, and in the -reign of Queen Mary conformed back again to the old order. Death -absolved him in 1558 from a further change of opinions on the accession -of Elizabeth in that year. - -The terrible memories of 1549 would long linger in the minds of John -Bery and the people of Breage. Some, no doubt, from Breage, had joined -the ill-fated march to Exeter to return no more. - -The reports of the Commissioners who visited Germoe on the 18th April, -and Breage on the 22nd April, 1549, are as follows: "Germoe, Minister, -Henry Nicol, a Cope of blue damask, one set of very coarse vestments, a -copper gilt cross, two chalices, one gilt the other parcel-gilt, two -small bells, a fair brass censer, a linen streamer with a cross upon it -of red silk." The inventory closes with the remark that nothing has -been sold for a year past.[31] - -The list at Breage reveals vessels and vestments of a richer and more -valuable character. The list comprises three chalices of silver, of -which two were gilt, three linen towels upon the altar, one pair of -vestments of blue velvet, one purple, broidered with gold work, a pair -of vestments of white satin, a pair of tawny satin, another pair of -oldsay, a cope of Morys velvet, purple broidered in gold work, an old -cope of blue velvet, two candlesticks of latten on the altar, upon the -font a yard of linen cloth, an old rotten streamer of silk, and four -bells of large burden hanging in the tower. Such was the inventory of -spoils in this remote parish at the time of the Great Pillage. - -The Church must have had a deep hold on the hearts of the Cornish people -at the time of the Reformation, or they would never have risen in her -defence in the way they did in 1549. The mutilation and desecration of -her shrines stirred the hearts of the people to the very depths. The -same spirit of devotion to the Church was manifest also in a marked -degree in Wales; indeed, until the Reformation the Welsh were of all the -inhabitants of the British Isles the most devoted to the cause of -the Church: where she was once strongest she is now weakest. In -pre-Reformation times the Feasts and Festivals of the Church in Cornwall -were bound up with the social life of the people, and its ritual, -paradoxical though it may seem in the present age, satisfied the deep -emotional cravings of the Cornish character, whilst its teaching was in -unison with the needs of their hearts. As an instance of the deep hold -of the Church upon the pre-Reformation life of the people, we have in -Breage the curious anomaly that the chief fête day of our Nonconformists -is St. Stephen's Day, which is the Feast of the Dedication of the -Parish Church, whilst at Germoe the Festival of the patron Saint is kept -by them as a day of teas and rejoicing. - -Under the new order of things brought in by the Reformation there was no -room for the play of emotions, the services of the Church were cold and -bare, adapted for religious philosophers, but not for peasants; the -change came, too, in the guise of an exotic planted by men of high -station, whom the people regarded as their natural oppressors and the -destroyers of the Church of their fathers. What followed was that which -might have been expected--a gradual lapsing of the people into what was, -to all intents and purposes, a crude form of paganism, which lasted, -with the exception of some stirrings of the dry bones during the -Commonwealth, until the coming of John Wesley, who with the warm glow of -emotional fervour re-converted the Cornish peasantry in the main to -Christianity. If proof of this assertion were needed, it is only -necessary to compare the religious aspect of things in Cornwall and -Brittany at the present day. Both people belong to the same division of -the Celtic race, yet both now in the main stand at opposite poles in -politics and religion. The reason seems to lie in the fact that the -Cornish were deprived of a faith which they loved, and which satisfied -the emotional and materialistic cravings of their hearts, and that the -new Clergy, creatures and toadies of the great, utterly failed to appeal -to their sympathies and to win their affections. - -In 1558 Sir Alexander Dawe, the last of the "Sirs," became Vicar of -Breage, and continued as such until the day of his death in 1595. The -record of his burial is still extant in the Parish Registers. He was -presented to the living of Breage by one Richard Hyde, who had become, -by purchase, patron of the Benefice for one turn only. The Abbot and -Convent of Hayles had followed the policy of the other religious houses -at the dissolution of the Monasteries, and saved what property they -could from the impending catastrophe by granting, where possible, long -leases of the Abbey lands and selling the next presentations to their -ecclesiastical patronage. - -A dark and terrible shadow passed over the life of the parish during the -time of Alexander Dawe. Breage was visited in 1578 by a pestilence, -which we have little doubt was the terrible Black Death or Plague, which -at this time was claiming endless victims all over the land. We who live -in these days of practical security from such awful visitations can have -no idea of the horror and dismay which they inspired, and the misery and -desolation which they spread broadcast over the land. To realise the -horror of the Plague, let us imagine an epidemic as contagious and as -infectious as influenza was some few years ago spreading everywhere, the -great majority of its victims dying in the most terrible sufferings. The -epidemic of plague in question had first appeared in London in the -autumn of 1563; about a thousand persons dying each week during the -latter part of 1563 and the earlier part of 1564. In 1570 Newcastle and -in 1574 Edinburgh endured terrible visitations of this scourge. During -the last months of 1578 and the earlier months of 1579 the Breage burial -register contains the record of seventy-six burials in Breage -churchyard. No comment is made upon the nature of the disease, but there -can be but little doubt we have here the grim records of a visit of the -terrible Black Death, whose dark shadow at this time hung in awful -menace over the whole land. The words of the Litany, "from plague, -pestilence and famine, from battle and murder and from sudden death, -good Lord deliver us," had a fulness of meaning for our fathers which we -who live in a brighter, cleaner and more peaceful time can only dimly -realise. - -With the death of Sir Alexander Dawe, the last link with the old -pre-Reformation life was severed; henceforward the stream of parochial -life was to run in channels more closely approximating to those of our -own age, and succeeding Vicars were men of different antecedents and -ways. The patronage of the Living, though nominally in the hands of the -Crown, came practically to be in the gift of the Godolphin family, which -had risen to a position of power and influence in the preceding hundred -years. - -Francis Harvey, who succeeded Alexander Dawe, was the son of Sir -Anthony Harvey, Kt., and Lucy Lister of Swarland, near Felton, in -Northumberland. The family of Harvey was remotely connected with the -Godolphin family, through the Carews.[32] Francis Harvey was born 2nd -March, 1562. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, but -migrated, after taking his B.A. degree, to Emmanuel College, which had -been recently founded by his relative, William Mildmay, as the home of a -mild and aristocratic form of Puritanism. It is interesting to note that -Sir William Godolphin, who died in 1613, was at Emmanuel College at the -same time as Francis Harvey. Perhaps it may not be too fanciful to -conclude that an intimacy between William Godolphin and Francis Harvey -ripened into close friendship in the quiet Cambridge home of Puritan -learning, and that thus the son of a Northumberland squire came to -settle in the remote West. Francis Harvey married Mary Yorke, a lady of -ancient family, in Phillack Church, in 1595; their descendants were long -settled at Maen in this County. - -Soon after obtaining the living of Breage, Francis Harvey was preferred -to the living of St. Erth, which he continued to hold jointly with -Breage until the day of his death. Whilst the Reformation had struck at -many evils, it had left one of the greatest of the abuses of the Church -practically untouched. One of the chief factors in preparing the popular -mind for the Reformation was the abuse of Church patronage; French and -Italian Priests, in many cases not speaking the English language, had -been foisted upon the English people, to the exclusion of their own -kith and kin. This evil system had begun with the Conquest and had -continued right down to the Reformation, accentuated and intensified by -the fact that a single person was capable of holding numerous benefices, -which in many cases he had never seen, to the exclusion of others -worthier and holier than himself. It was this condition of things that -alone rendered the Reformation possible. The storm of the Reformation -burst, but swept in vain round this crowning abuse. After the -Reformation the abuse of patronage presented itself even in more odious -forms, and the best life of the Church withered and died under its -poisonous shadow. Francis Harvey was not an excessive pluralist; he held -only two livings, though his cousin, William Cotton, who succeeded him, -enjoyed a good baker's dozen or more. - -An event happened in the first few months of the incumbency of Francis -Harvey which would long linger in the minds of his flock, and which for -years to come would be spoken of by the cottage and farm house evening -firesides. The 23rd July, 1595 was a hot summer's day; a thick haze lay -over the sea, which gradually lifted, disclosing four Spanish ships of -war lying off the coast, over against Mousehole. Their hostile -intentions were soon evident; boatloads of armed men began to put off -from the ships. A force of over two hundred Spaniards was quickly landed -without opposition. The little town of Mousehole was soon in flames, and -a handful of brave men who scorned flight perished at their own -doors.[33] - -The Spanish force streamed up the hill[34] their course marked by -blazing roof-trees. The old grey village Church of Paul on the ridge -soon became the special object of their fury, and its stones to this day -bear grim witness to the devouring flames that once enveloped them. The -inhabitants of Mousehole fled in a terrified mob towards Penzance, the -roar of the ships' guns adding speed to their flight. It seems Sir -Francis Godolphin had ridden forth earlier in the day from Godolphin -House, and saw either from Godolphin or Tregoning Hill the dense clouds -of smoke hanging over Mousehole and Paul, whilst the booming of the guns -of the four warships in the Bay would speedily make the whole situation -clear to the mind of this keen soldier trained in the Irish Wars under -Essex. Without delay he spurred his horse to the scene of action and -encountered the flying crowd a little westward of Penzance. He succeeded -for a time in infusing something of his own brave spirit into the minds -of the fugitives and the men of Penzance capable of bearing arms. A move -was made upon the Spanish position, and the Spaniards, seeing the -advancing force, retired to their ships, only again after a short period -to disembark at Newlyn, which they speedily set on fire, and began to -move on Penzance. In vain, sword in hand, the brave Sir Francis -endeavoured to rally the people to the defence of their town and homes; -he was speedily deserted by all save a few of his own servants. As the -Spaniards entered the town he had no alternative but to ride away, -surrounded by his little company of brave followers. - -The Spaniards remained in Penzance Bay until the 25th July, when they -put out to sea in a north-west breeze, just in time to escape capture by -a force of British ships rounding the Lizard, which they must have seen -in the offing. The anxiety and dread of the people of Breage, standing -with straining eyes watching the course of events in the plain below -during those two fateful days, must have been great indeed. One wild -rumour after another of dire deeds transpiring beneath them, by the sea, -would pass through their midst. There would be little sleep in the -village during the two anxious nights the Spanish warships lay in -Penzance Bay. Many minds would turn to another night of anxiety and -dread a few years before, when the great Armada had passed the Lizard -early in the forenoon, and was making its way up Channel, followed by -the English Fleet. - - "For swift to East and swift to West the ghastly war flame spread, - High on St. Michael's Mount it shone; it shone on Beachy Head." - -Francis Harvey died whilst still practically a young man, 2nd March, -1607. We copy from our burial register the almost pathetic entry -recording his death and burial, so different is it by contrast to the -endless laconic entries of death that precede and follow it. Evidently -the entry was made by the hand of one who knew and loved him. It is -written in a clear and elegant hand, and the entry carries with it -something of truthfulness and sincerity that brings the image of Francis -Harvey up out of the mists of the past, as that of a true and good -man of a mild and gentle type of Puritan piety. The entry is as -follows:--"_Francisus Harvey, theologus hujusque parochiæ Vicarius cum -jam quadragesimum quartum annum ætatis vix attigesset. Secundo die -Marcii extremum diem clausit, et ut per totum temporis curriculum -transegit vitam minime non inhonestam sic obiit, mortem non minus plane -piam. Sepultusque fuit die quarto tunc proximum insequente. Anno Domini -1607._" - -Francis Harvey was succeeded by his cousin, William Cotton, M.A., -described in the Exeter Registers as "the beloved son of the Bishop." He -resigned the living of Breage after holding it but little over a year. -Walker, in his "Sufferings of the Clergy," includes William Cotton in -his list of suffering Clergy during the Commonwealth. However deeply the -sufferings of William Cotton may have touched the feelings of a former -age, they are not likely to move the sympathies of our own. As well as -being Vicar of Breage, he was also Precentor and a residentiary Canon of -Exeter Cathedral, and held the livings of Silverton, Whimple and Duloe, -and possibly others at one and the same time. His brother, Edward -Cotton, was equally well provided for by his father. It was outrageous -pluralism of this kind that alienated the people from the Church and -prepared the way for the wild outpourings of religious bigotry and -frenzy under the Commonwealth. William Cotton, with the failure of the -royal cause, was compelled to resign the mass of patronage which he -held. He died at his seat of Bottreux Castle in 1649 or 1650. Walker -informs us that in his veins "flowed the blood of crowned heads of -England, Scotland and Ireland, and other great personages of the highest -rank," and that "he was a person of a meek and humble spirit, of a grave -and sober conversation, of exemplary piety, charity and learning." - -Edward Cotton was succeeded by William Orchard in 1608. In the record of -his institution in the Episcopal Registers he is described as "Preacher -of the Word of God"; this phrase will perhaps serve to disclose the bias -of his mind and the theological bent of the times. Unlike his -predecessors Harvey and Cotton, he had graduated at no University. Most -possibly in his own mind he regarded such institutions as unnecessary -for one who was led by the Spirit of God. It is possible that he owed -his appointment to the living of Breage to Sir William Godolphin, the -then Squire of Godolphin, and friend of the statesman Cecil, who, it -seems more than probable, acquired a Puritan bias when a student at -Emmanuel College, the Cambridge home of Puritanism. - -I rather conclude from the frequent mention of the name of Orchard in -the Breage Registers about the time of his incumbency, that his family -had been settled in the parish at the time of his appointment. A George -Orchard married a Dorcas Coode of Methleigh, and an Edward Orchard -married a Jane Sparnon of Sparnon. The Coodes and Sparnons at this time, -with the exception of the Godolphins, were the chief families of the -parish, ranking considerably above the rank of yeoman. William Orchard -became a widower in 1619. The record in the Breage Register of the -death and burial of his wife is as follows: "_Anna Orchard uxor Wilhelmi -Orchard, Vicarii hujus parochiæ, filia Johis Yeo, gent, died 9th Feb. -and was buried 11th Feb. 1619._" His daughter Mary married John Coode of -Methleigh; their descendant owns the estate of Methleigh at the present -time. - -Whilst Sir William Godolphin and Parson Orchard were both Puritans, they -were both loyalists. They would have shuddered with horror "at those -days which were coming upon the earth," and which to a great extent were -the logical outcome of the Puritanism which they and others professed -acting upon the popular mind; they were putting new wine into old -bottles, regardless of the inevitable result, as good men will do in -every age. Though Sir William Godolphin was not destined to see the day -that his king perished on the scaffold, it was the lot of William -Orchard to see it forty years later, and ultimately for conscience sake -to be ejected from his home and office. Rather than be untrue to the -light within him, like so many of his brethren, William Orchard elected -to go into the wilderness. It was his lot never to return to his -benefice, though his son at the Restoration petitioned Parliament on his -behalf for revenues from the living of Breage, of which he deemed his -father to have been defrauded. - -It was during William Orchard's incumbency that Breage for the first and -last time was favoured with a royal visit in the person of Charles, -Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II. When the royal cause was -irretrievably lost, Charles fled to Cornwall on his way to seek refuge -in the Scilly Islands. For some days he rested at Godolphin House, and -what remains of the suite of rooms he occupied is still shewn there. It -would be interesting to know how Charles spent the few days of his -sojourn in Breage, and how he wiled the time away, and whether, after -the good custom of those days, in spite of the danger of his position, -he joined in the Sunday worship at Breage Church. It is possible to -picture the swarthy youthful face, with the thick heavy red lips and -with _ennui_ written upon it, looking wearily from the Godolphin aisle -upon William Orchard, as hand upon hour-glass he unfolded Puritan truth -from a maze of conflicting facts. - -But the evil days drew on apace; Prince and Parson had alike to go -before the storm. Soon after the swearing of the Solemn League and -Covenant by Parliament in 1644, the tithes of Breage were sequestrated -or confiscated by the Government; [35]William Orchard with Antony -Randall, curate of Germoe, and Robert Smith, curate of Cury, were thus -reduced to dire poverty. Their parishioners, touched by their trials, -and regarding them no doubt as honest and faithful men, on the 8th May, -1649, petitioned Parliament that a yearly grant might be made to them of -£40 each out of the confiscated tithes of St. Keverne. Their prayer was -answered, but after four years of weary waiting, the tried clerics -complained to Parliament that their grants had been withheld by the -County Committee, and humbly requested "that the rents may remain in the -Tenants' hands." On the 17th August, 1653, the County Committee made -answer to Parliament, that "by information of Colonel Rous, M.P., the -Vicarage of Breage is sufficiently endowed, and that the Ministers -thereof are malignant and scandalous, and that Antony Rous of Wotton, -John Bawden of Trelask, and three others are appointed trustees for -disposing of the grant made by Parliament to four such able and godly -ministers as they shall judge meet to place in their room." Whilst the -hypocritical cant of this declaration provokes a smile, at the same time -it arouses mournful reflections on the violence and bigotry that is ever -wont to dog the steps of human effort after political and religious -reformation. - -"The able and godly minister" chosen to supplant William Orchard at -Breage was one James Innes. Doubtless he was a man of extreme opinions -both in politics and religion, but like William Orchard in the hour of -darkness he was able to play the true man, and rather than conform at -the Restoration to tenets in which he did not believe, he vacated his -office even before Black Bartholomew's Day, 24th August, 1662. He found -an asylum in Scotland in the household of the Earl of Lauderdale, where -he performed the office of chaplain in conformity with the Presbyterian -use. - -The seeds of Puritanism sown by men like Orchard and Innes did not die, -but lay germinating in the hearts of the Cornish people, rendering -possible the great work of John Wesley a hundred years later. Such men -succeeded in a great measure in destroying the pre-Reformation -mechanical ideals of salvation in the hearts of the people, which -prepared the way for the stirring of the dry bones in future years. - -Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall, published in 1602, gives a vivid -picture of the conditions of life in Cornwall prevailing during the -period we have been considering in this chapter. The condition of the -mining population, he tells us, was much worse than that of the -agricultural population.[36] We gather from his pages that the wages of -the miners were so inadequate that sooner or later indigence compelled -them to have recourse to their employers, who supplied them with food -and clothing in advance of their wages at usurious prices. The Stannary -Courts, we are informed, were utterly corrupt and saturated with the -spirit of perjury and injustice.[36] The houses of the working people, -we gather at this period, were made of clay, possessing neither windows -nor any attempt at ceiling or plastering[36]; a hole in the wall being -considered sufficient to do duty for a chimney. The miner and labouring -people generally, we gather, were alike destitute of shoes and -stockings, and we may add, of course, of any rudiments of education. - -Leland, when he visited the parish, found large mining works along the -coast from Trewarvas Head to Praa Sands. Sir Francis Godolphin a -generation later developed the ancient mines of Great Work and Wheal Vor -upon scientific principles and a scale of vastness hitherto undreamt of. - -The mines, it is evident, brought riches and prosperity to the owners of -the soil, but not to the people who dwelt upon it; to them, as Carew -makes clear, they meant too often degradation and oppression. The -harvest of this evil sowing is still being reaped at the present day. It -is but too true that with the Reformation the people lost a powerful -protector in the Church. With all her faults--and they were many--until -the Reformation the Church had been consistently the friend of the poor; -her clergy until that period, had been the members of a great -corporation, and as such stood in no dread of "the petty tyrant of the -fields." With the coming of the Reformation all was changed, and the -Parish Priest became too often the creature and parasite of the wealthy, -moved but too frequently by fear and policy to neglect the claims of his -flock, with for three centuries, disastrous results alike for Church and -people. The people at the Reformation were ready to rise and to die for -the Church, as we have seen in our own neighbourhood; three centuries -later they regarded her with utter suspicion and disfavour. Few with any -acquaintance with the facts of the case will deny that the material and -moral condition of the people, under much cruel injustice and -exploitation, grew worse for some generations after the Reformation, -because there were none to hold the balance of justice between class and -class and stay the hand of the oppressor, at any rate in the remote -places of the country. - -In the western part of the County the mines tended to produce an utter -neglect of agriculture, the effects of which were bad in every way. They -also led to the reckless destruction of much valuable timber for the -purpose of making mine props. Western Cornwall, now so denuded and bare -of trees, in ancient days was thickly wooded; round Ashton now not a -tree is to be seen, yet the name perpetuates the memory of the time when -Ashton was the Down where the ash trees grew. - -Carew tells us that there were few sheep in Cornwall in his days, and -that those there were had little bodies and fleeces so coarse that their -wool went by the name of Cornish hair. The horses, he says, were small -and hardy and "quick travellers over rough and hilly country," but he -goes on to say that by hard treatment and overwork they were soon worn -out and rendered unfit for service. Owing to the practical absence of -roads till long after Carew's time, vehicular traffic was practically -impossible; horses were therefore used as pack animals, and a regular -system of transit of goods prevailed through the County by means of pack -horses. The tracks that passed by the name of roads[37] for the six -rainy months of the year, were practically impassable quagmires of mud, -making intercourse, save of the most urgent character, practically -impossible. It was on account of the extreme difficulty of communication -through the long winter months that the gentry of the district -established for themselves town houses in Helston, in which they might -exchange the isolation of the country for some measure of friendly and -agreeable intercourse. - -The land used for tillage seems to have been chiefly manured with sea -sand and sea weed; the little ploughing there was would, of course, be -done by oxen, a method which at any rate had the merit of producing a -strong and vigorous breed of cattle, which in size would perhaps more -than favourably compare with some of the animals to be seen at the -present time. - -We gather from Carew "that some gentlemen allowed their cattle to go -wild in their woods and waste ground, where they were hunted and killed -with crossbows and pieces after the manner of deer." At this time the -Deer Park attached to Godolphin House took in a large part of the -present parish of Godolphin; the remains of the high walls of this -ancient park may still be seen on the south-western slopes of Godolphin -Hill. - -In Carew's time the women and children of the West of Cornwall carried -on the industry of mat-making to a large extent. These mats were made of -coarse grass, and were exported to London in great numbers for the -purpose of floor and wall coverings. - -Carew informs us that the Cornish had no oaths and never swore, but that -they made up for it by a plentiful indulgence in curses, maledictions -and the giving of spiteful nicknames. - -The two chief practising physicians[38] in the County in Carew's time -were Rawe Clyes, a blacksmith, and a Mr. Atwell, parson of St. Tue; the -latter obtained the most wonderful results from recommending a diet of -apples and milk. - -The chief pastimes of the country people at this period, as far as can -be ascertained, were wrestling, hurling and shooting with arrows. The -game of hurling, in both its forms, seems to have been even more rough -and dangerous than Cornish wrestling, and was attended, if Carew speak -correctly, frequently with fatal results and serious injury to life and -limb; yet he goes on to say "was never Attorney or Coroner troubled for -the matter." It was in the larger game of "Hurling the County" that most -of the serious damage was done; this wild game was played over miles of -country by men both on horseback and on foot. The goals were as a rule a -couple of towns or villages three or four miles apart. The match seems -to have been arranged, in the first place, between two country -gentlemen, who on the occasion of some appointed holiday would gather -as their respective supporters, as far as possible, the male inhabitants -of two or three neighbouring parishes. Each squire headed the mob he had -thus raised to the appointed rendezvous. When the two masses of men, -under their respective commanders, were brought face to face, at an -appointed signal, a silver ball was thrown into the air. The object of -the game was for each side to endeavour to capture the ball and carry it -to their own goal some miles distant, in spite of the efforts of their -opponents to hinder them in their purpose. The struggle would be waged -over miles of country, to the right side or to the left, through rivers, -ditches, woods and bogs, the ball being now passed from one on foot to -one on horseback, no effort being spared to drag the possessor of the -ball to the earth by the opposing side. Little wonder that such a game -often resulted in deaths and serious maimings. - -A Cornish amusement of a milder character that came to an end with the -seventeenth century was the performance of the ancient Miracle Plays. A -vestige of the custom still survives in some places in the bands of -children who at Christmas time go from house to house, dressed to -impersonate a medley of characters, repeating garbled snatches of -doggerel, which are in reality fragments of the ancient plays in the -last stage of evolution and disintegration. In their earliest form the -Miracle Plays were performed by the Clergy in their Churches to -illustrate to an ignorant age, alike without literature and the faculty -of using it, the truths of the Christian religion. These plays continued -to be performed in Churches to a greater or less extent down to the time -of the Reformation.[39] The Reformation endeavoured to draw an unreal -line of demarcation between sacred and profane, and the drama thus came -to be placed beyond the pale as worthless and sinful, with the natural -disastrous result that it became quickly degraded and debased, like -many other harmless, healthful and pleasure-giving institutions and -pastimes. - -The Miracle Plays that have come down to us in the Cornish language[40] -are first the Ordinalia: this is a trilogy consisting of the Plays of -the Beginning of the World, the Passion and the Resurrection, with an -interlude on the death of Pilate; this work is based on a French -original of the fourteenth century. Secondly, we have the Play of the -Life of St. Meriasek, of Breton parentage; and lastly, a work based on -the Ordinalia, containing many more English words, written by William -Jordan, of Helston, in 1611; the work deals with the Creation of the -World and the Deluge. The Cornish language was spoken in the West of -Cornwall until the beginning of the eighteenth century[41]; by the close -of that century it had entirely disappeared. In Carew's time the Cornish -Miracle Plays were performed in the open fields, and were resorted to by -the country people with great delight; he tells us however, by his time -they had become vulgarized and depraved to no small extent, possibly by -the introduction of bucolic gag of a Rabelaisian character. - -Judging from the pages of Carew, in the seventeenth century, with all -its grossness and barbarism, there was much real friendship and happy -intercourse amongst the people, possibly more than there is now. The -Harvest Homes, the Church Ales and the Church Festivals of Dedication, -with the Guary or Miracle Plays, all led to much friendly intercourse -and hospitality. Carew says on these occasions, "the neighbour parishes -lovingly visit one another"; friends came from a distance, and were -hospitably entertained with resultant kindliness and good fellowship. -The Church Ales seem to have been run on much the same lines as the -present Harvest Teas, with the exception that instead of tea, beer and -cider were drunk, and that the venue of the feasting was laid at the -Public House, instead of the village School or Institute. - -Perhaps we shall obtain the most accurate glimpse of the character of -the people, and the state of Western Cornwall generally at this period, -from the State Papers. Here are a few gleanings culled at random from -this source. In 1526 a Portuguese ship was wrecked at Gunwalloe and much -cargo saved. It was seized by the servants of John Militon, of -Pengersick, Thomas St. Aubyn and William Godolphin, and when the owner -appealed to the Justices he was told it was the custom of the country, -and that no redress was possible. A commission of enquiry ensued, -followed by Star Chamber proceedings, and the defence was the usual one, -for which any number of witnesses could always be obtained, that the -owner had sold his property on the sea shore! - -In 1575 an information of fifteen Articles was laid against Sir William -Godolphin and the Killigrews, of Arwenack; thirteen of these concerned -piracy. - -In 1582 a Spanish ship put into Falmouth; she was boarded by a gang of -men, who after removing the cargo as booty to Arwenack, took the ship to -Ireland, throwing the crew overboard on the voyage. A Cornish Jury -afterwards found there was no evidence to show by whom the deed was -done. The Privy Council came to the conclusion very quickly that the -plot originated with and was carried out by the orders of Lady -Killigrew, of Arwenack. - -In 1603 a Marseilles ship was plundered and the cargo carried to the -Scilly Islands. The owner appealed to Sir Francis Godolphin, who made an -order to his son John, then Governor of those Islands, to restore the -cargo. John Godolphin expelled the unfortunate owner from the Islands -and he could obtain no further redress. - -In 1626 a Flemish privateer, which had been hovering like a bird of prey -around the South-Western coast, was driven ashore and wrecked. The -country people must have enjoyed the wrecking of this hostile ship with -even more than their usual zest. - -Dr. Borlase, writing in 1795, describes the methods of the mining -population near the coast in his day in dealing with vessels in -distress. His description would no doubt do equally well for the period -we are considering. He says "The wreckers were mostly Tinners, who as -soon as a ship was seen sailing near the coast left their work and -equipped themselves with axes, and followed the ship along the coast, -often to the number of two thousand men. They would cut a large trading -vessel to pieces in one tide. They strip half-dead men of their clothing -and cut down all who resist them."[42] - -The following is a pleasing picture of the people of Germoe taken from a -letter of the year 1710. "The people of Germoe, called Tinners, are a -mad people, without fear of God or of the world. I cannot say a good -word for them." Here is another extract from a letter of the period -bearing date 30th October, 1671. "The Speedwell was cast away on the -rocks at Pengersick. The rude people plundered her of all that was -between decks, but the matter being noised about Sir William Godolphin, -Mr. Hugh Boscawen and Mr. John St. Aubyn came to the wreck, and by their -care preserved most of the goods from the violence of the country -people." - -It may well have been said of the Miners of Cornwall, as far as wrecking -was concerned, "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the vultures be -gathered together." Mr. Hunt, in his "Popular Romances of the West of -England," narrates a story of the mid-eighteenth century, which still -lingers in the popular mind, of a terrible fight that took place between -Miners from Breage and Wendron, over the spoils of a ship cast upon the -rocks near the Lizard. In old times, it seems, a gigantic ash tree used -to stand upon the Downs near Cury; from its great size and the -loneliness of its situation, it had in the course of time come to be a -popular landmark. In the case of the wreck in question, the Wendron -Tinners had the advantage over their Breage brethren in the matter of -distance, and thus were able more quickly to fall upon the spoil, break -up the unfortunate ship, and rifle the unhappy castaways of their -belongings. Like the true artists they were in the art of appropriating -the property of others, they worked quickly, and ere much time had -elapsed they had reached the great ash tree of Cury on their journey -home laden with spoil. Under this historic tree they encountered the -band of Tinners from Breage, who soon realised from the rich booty in -the hands of the men of Wendron that nothing more was to be done that -day in the way of wrecking on the Lizard rocks. Baffled of their prey, -and frantic with fury, the horde of men and women from Breage rushed -upon their Wendron compatriots, and the tide of brutal fight raged for -hours round the Cury ash tree. Mr. Hunt tells us that a Wendron man -named Gluyas having been disabled was borne out of the fight by his -friends, and placed upon the top of a hedge. A Breage woman named Prudy, -seeing this paladin lying disabled on the hedge, rushed upon him -exclaiming, "Ef thee artn't ded, I'll make thee," and smote him upon the -head with the iron upon her paton till he expired. Mr. Hunt concludes -this story by stating that the fiend Prudy, as far as judicial -investigation was concerned, was allowed to go untouched, because fights -at this period between parishes were matters of such common occurrence -as to excite but little comment, and fatal casualties so frequent as to -be regarded as matters of no moment. In this statement, as we have seen, -he is borne out by Carew writing in a previous generation. Down to fifty -years ago the brutal system of Parochial rivalry and violence -continued, at any rate in a mitigated form. A friend wrote to Mr. Hunt: -"So late as thirty years ago (circa 1850) it was unsafe to venture alone -through the streets of the lower part of Helston after nightfall on a -market day owing to the frays of the Breage, Wendron and Sithney men." -This statement was fully borne out by an aged friend of the writer, now -dead, who told him that in his youth even funeral processions of Miners -brought to Breage from other parishes were assailed with showers of -stones, and an attack which either ended in hasty retreat or a prolonged -free fight. It may be added, however, that Sunday was kept as a truce of -God, and on that day a dead Miner from outside the parish might be borne -to his rest without an assault being delivered on his friends as they -followed him to the grave. This aged friend also informed the writer -that to such an extent did this brutal system of savagery prevail that -no Miner could pass from his own parish to another without being -assailed and maltreated. Indeed, whenever Miners crossed the borders of -their own parishes, they did so in bodies for mutual protection. Well on -into the first half of the last century, fighting seems to have been one -of the chief topics of interest, if not the chief amusement of the -neighbourhood, and fights for wagers were of constant occurrence in -Breage parish, on Trew Green and elsewhere. To conclude this brief -summary of past conditions, one cannot help feeling that there was -something to be said for the old Roman view as to the results of the -occupation of mining on human character. It is a dismal picture, truly, -this of past conditions in the West of Cornwall, but when we contrast it -with the present it fills the mind with hopefulness, and reveals the -vast latent possibilities in human nature for improvement and progress. -If out of this dark and barbarous past we have so recently emerged, what -bright possibilities may not lie in the coming time seems but a -reasonable thought. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[31] Kalendar of State Papers. Domestic Series. - -[32] MS. in the possession of Fleet-Surgeon Harvey. - -[33] Paul Church Burial Registers. - -[34] Carew's Survey of Cornwall. - -[35] Reports of the Committee of Compounding. - -[36] Carew's Survey of Cornwall pp. 49, 59, 183, etc. - -[37] Carew says "There are not any roads in the whole kingdom worse than -ours, hastily repaired only when some great man passes that way in his -coach." - -[38] Carew p. 172. - -[39] See the Article "Drama" in "Encyclopædia Britannica" by Mr. A. W. -Ward. - -[40] See the Article in "Encyclopædia Britannica" by Mr. W. K. Sullivan. - -[41] Dr. Edward Lhuyd, "Archæologia Britannica" 1707, quoted by Mr. -Jenner in his "Handbook of the Cornish Language." - -[42] From the Gwavas MS. in the British Museum. A letter from John -Boson, of Newlyn, a Cornish-speaking Cornishman, written in the Cornish -language. A copy of this letter was given to the Author by Henry Jenner, -Esq. - - - - -RECENT TIMES. - -CHAPTER V. - - -On the accession of Charles II. the intruding Puritan divine James Innes -was quickly ejected. He found refuge for the remainder of his life in -the household of the Earl of Lauderdale. It would seem that at the time -of the ejection of Innes, William Orcharde had become too old and infirm -to resume his office as vicar of Breage, and thus it came about that -James Trewinnard, a member of the ancient family long settled at -Trewinnard, in the Parish of St. Erth, succeeded to the benefice in -1661. He also held the living of Mawgan conjointly with that of Breage, -according to the lax custom of the times. On his death, which took place -at Mawgan, the parish in which he had chosen to reside, he was succeeded -at Breage by Henry Huthnance. Judging by his name Henry Huthnance was of -local origin, and at any rate was a connection of the family of -Robinson, of Nansloe; he lies buried in Breage churchyard at the east -end of the Chancel wall, between his predecessor, the learned and -saintly Francis Harvey, and one of his successors, William Eusticke, of -whom more anon. On the death of Henry Huthnance, in 1720, James -Trewinnard, son of the former incumbent of that name, became vicar; like -his father, he held jointly the two benefices of Breage and Mawgan. He -was a graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was succeeded in 1722 -by Edward Collins, bachelor of laws. This incumbent, like several of his -predecessors, was also dowered with the living of St. Erth. Edward -Collins was the son of the Reverend John Collins, vicar of Redruth, and -was closely connected with many of the local county families. Indeed, it -may be said of practically all the incumbents onwards from the -Reformation to the middle of the last century that weighty local -connections were their chief passport to preferment. A mournful interest -attaches to his successor, Henry Eusticke. He came of the old Cornish -family of Eusticke, of Nancealvan, and had married Mary Borlase, -daughter of the then vicar of Madron. He was a man of undoubted learning -and literary attainments, and an acknowledged authority on the ancient -Cornish language, and did much during his not very long life in -collecting written fragments of the ancient tongue.[43] He also -published after the custom of the times[44] a collection of verses and -epigrams. Unfortunately for Henry Eusticke, he lived in different times -from those of his easy-going predecessors. The age had begun to grow -impatient of easy-going cultured clerical somnolence. John Wesley, like -other great men, seems to have been a symptom rather than the cause of -the deep spiritual ferment associated with his name. The stirrings were -already in the souls of the people; all that was needed was some passing -cause to set these forces in motion. If proof were needed it is only -necessary to realise how incapable John Wesley found himself of guiding -the movement into the rigid mould that he had designed for it. The -reaper can only gather in the harvest when it is ready to his sickle: he -cannot create the harvest. - -I give John Wesley's experience at Breage in his own words from his -diary; they do not make pleasant reading because they present the -spectacle of two good men utterly incapable of understanding each -other's position. "I had given no notice of my preaching here, but -seeing the poor flock from every side, I could not send them away empty. -So I preached at a small distance from the house and besought them to -consider our Great High Priest, who is passed into the heavens, and none -opened his mouth, for the lions of Breage are now changed into lambs. -That they were so fierce ten years ago is no wonder, since the wretched -Minister told them from the pulpit, 'Seven years before I resigned my -fellowship John Wesley was expelled from the College for a base child -and had been quite mazed ever since,' that all the Methodists in their -private Societies put out the lights, etc., etc., with abundance more of -the same kind. But a year or two since it was observed he grew -thoughtful and melancholy, and about nine months ago went into his house -and hanged himself." - -After reading this indictment of poor Mr. Eusticke, a Fellow of his -College and a learned man, one naturally asks oneself the question, who -were the informants of John Wesley as to this wild tirade from the -pulpit? The writer was once informed in all good faith by an old woman -that a clerical neighbour in a former parish, given to preaching on -Christian evidences, had stated from the pulpit his belief "That there -was no God at all, and that he would never get her to hold such a -belief." The writer is inclined to put these two statements in the same -category, whilst attributing them perhaps to a very different attitude -of mind. With all his saintly enthusiasm, John Wesley seems to have -been, like many other saintly men, of a somewhat credulous disposition; -and his attributing the death of Mr. Eusticke to the fact that he -opposed himself to him, to say the least, suggests a somewhat unbalanced -condition of mind. - -On the other hand, to the latitudinarian and philosophic Henry Eusticke, -John Wesley would no doubt appear as a lawless and erratic High Church -Clergyman, who out of pure self-will, in defiance of the orders of his -Bishop, went about obtruding himself into parishes where he had no -jurisdiction, and generally turning the world upside down. It was -enthusiasm, however, and not cold moralities, coupled with a Dr. Panglos -attitude towards all constituted things, as making for the best of all -possible worlds, that was going to change the hearts of the people. The -pity of it all is that the mutual prejudices between John Wesley and his -brother clergy ended in one more cruel rent in the seamless garb of the -Church--in making the holiest aspirations of the human heart, which -should have been the chiefest strength of the Church, into a source of -discord and division. - -In speaking of John Wesley one is naturally reminded of another saintly -character, the tenderest episodes in whose career are closely bound up -with the parish of Breage. John Wesley confined his labours to people of -his own race and language; Henry Martyn sought to become the Apostle of -India and Persia. The connection of Henry Martyn with Breage was due to -Lydia Grenfell, the lady to whom he was engaged, having made her home to -a large extent with her brother-in-law, a Mr. Wylliams, who for many -years acted as curate-in-charge of Breage, for a non-resident pluralist -incumbent. Henry Martyn thus came to pass many happy days in what is now -the old Vicarage at Breage, previous to his departure for India. In his -diary he pathetically tells us how he proposed spending the last Sunday -in England at St. Hilary with Lydia Grenfell, but early in the morning -of that day a messenger arrived from Falmouth with the news that the -troopship in which he was sailing was about to put to sea with all -possible speed. He immediately started from St. Hilary by road, passing -through Breage on his way. There is a touching pathos in the statement -in his diary that he anxiously waited on deck till the ship in which he -sailed passed the Lizard Point, that he might search the twilight coast -for the familiar landmarks linked with the tenderest associations of his -life--one of the most prominent of which would be the old grey tower of -Breage Church, visible on clear days far out to sea--but, alas! as the -ship rounded the Lizard the whole coast lay embedded in thick banks of -cloud, and as the darkness fell and the ship forged out to sea this -lonely pioneer of the faith descended to his cabin, and poured out his -soul in prayer, that in the distant East, to which he was voyaging, he -might win kingdoms for Christ. This first of the great modern English -Missionaries was never fated to see the home of his youth again; his lot -was not to win kingdoms for Christ, but to find a martyr's grave in -Persia. Lydia Grenfell rests at Breage under the shadow of the old grey -Church on the hill overlooking the sea. - -With the death of the second Earl of Godolphin in the middle of the -eighteenth century, rank and fashion took leave of the parish of Breage, -and the chief events in its annals became in the future mining -speculations, with occasional wrecks and alarms of invasion. - -During the summer months, in the time of Sidney Godolphin, Godolphin -House had been the constant rendezvous of the leading families of the -County, and a great centre of social life. The great Minister whilst in -residence at Godolphin had relays of messengers, who brought on his -despatches from Exeter--as far as that town they seem to have been -entrusted to the ordinary post; in those days, it may be added, no -regular post linked Cornwall with London, Exeter being the extreme -postal limit of the West. To Godolphin House, therefore, during the -short residences of the Lord High Treasurer of England, came men in -search of the crumbs of patronage that fell from the Minister's table, -or to hear news of the outer world, or of what transpired at Court and -who was likely to succeed on the Queen's demise, and how it fared with -Marlborough in the great war, many no doubt of the varied throng having -relatives serving under him. - -During the Napoleonic wars a Signalling Station was established on -Tregoning Hill, and anxious watch kept over the seaward horizon for -French Fleets which never hove in sight, whilst tradition says rumours -of invasion from time to time stirred the public mind to fear. - -But the real events in the sequestered life of the district, beyond the -mere fluctuations in the prosperity of the tin trade, which stirred the -pulses of public interest were the harvest of shipwrecks which the -winter storms yielded each year to the inhabitants. The merits and -values of the cargoes of the different wrecks were never-failing topics -of interest round the firesides, memories of which still linger in the -minds of the aged. The invention of steam told sadly against the value -of this annual winter harvest: now it is steam and steam trawlers that -ruin the local fishing industry, then it was steam striking a death blow -at the local industry of wrecking. Old men have told the writer a -legend, told to them by men of a still older generation, of one of the -first steamers to appear on the coast. The inhabitants concluded with -regard to it that it was a ship on fire, and consequently followed it in -ever increasing numbers along the coast, anxious to participate in the -good things in the hold of the ship when her crew beaten by the flames -drove her on shore. The establishment of the Wolf Lighthouse within -comparatively recent years, the fitful gleam of whose red eye is clearly -visible from our shores far out to sea, has practically brought to an -end the dismal tale of wrecks and drowned sailors that each year -produced. Until well on into the last century it was the custom to bury -drowned sailors in trenches along the shore; the place where a number of -these unfortunate mariners lie heaped together in one common burial, -without religious rites, is still marked by the broken conformation of -the ground. From the fact that drowned mariners and voyagers received -this unhonoured sepulture, our Church Burial Registers are of no avail -as a guide to the history of the innumerable wrecks on our six miles -strip of coast. Not till after 1850 do we find any record of the burial -of those cast up by the sea in the Churchyard. - -The Church Registers for the year 1867 record one of those tragedies of -the sea, shrouded in mystery which can never be unravelled. In the -failing light of the evening of the 7th January of that year, in the -midst of a heavy gale, a large sailing ship was seen off the coast at -Rinsey by several people; the gathering darkness soon shrouded her from -the eyes of the few watchers. She was never seen again, next morning the -shore was strewn with wreckage and with dead, but no fragment bearing -the name of the ill-fated ship was ever found. She had evidently struck -on a reef of rocks a mile or so from the coast, only to slip off them -during the wild, tempestuous night and to disappear in the depths of the -sea. This ship was evidently a foreign one, as most of the drowned were -of dark and swarthy appearance. - -After a valued incumbency of nearly forty years, the Reverend Maurice -Pridmore was succeeded in 1889 by the Reverend Jocelyn Barnes, who, with -self-denying generosity, set about the restoration of Breage and Germoe -Churches. The work was taken in hand almost immediately after Mr. -Barnes' arrival, and was carried to its completion by Mr. Barnes at -great personal cost to himself. In this labour of love he was greatly -assisted by the eighth Duke of Leeds, the heir of the ancient House of -Godolphin, and the Right Honourable W. H. Smith, through whose -instrumentality he had been appointed to the living, whilst the -Parishioners and Landowners assisted in the good work according to their -several abilities. Dilapidations in the fabrics of both Churches were -carefully renovated, and the beautifully-carved oak screen and reredos -placed in Breage Church. The reredos was the work of Belgian artists, -and like the screen is composed of oak, whilst the carved figures which -adorn it are of lime wood. The central group of figures represents the -adoration of the Magi; in this group appear the figures of St. Breaca, -St. Germoe and St. Corentine, the patron Saint of Cury, who is said to -have been the first Bishop of Cornwall; the carved figures on either -side of this main group represent St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Anselm and -St. John the Baptist, each with their appropriate emblem; beneath these -figures, each in its separate niche, are the beautifully carved figures -of the four Evangelists, two on either side. On the screen, amongst -numerous emblems of a religious character, occurs the Godolphin crest, -with the Cornish motto of the family, "_Frank ha leal ettoge_," linked -with the motto of the saintly Margaret Godolphin, "_Un Dieu un amy_." - -The fragments of ancient glass, which, as previously stated, were found -in the walled-up staircase leading to the rood loft, were once more -placed in the windows after having been carefully pieced together. It -was also during the restoration that the frescos adorning the walls of -the Church were discovered, hidden beneath successive layers of -whitewash that had accumulated upon them during the course of centuries. -The figures represented in the frescos are St. Christopher, bearing the -infant Christ upon his shoulder, a large figure of our Lord with the -crown of thorns, whilst the drops of blood caused by it are falling upon -the instruments of daily village life and husbandry, thus symbolising -that the business and tasks of our daily lives are blessed and -sanctified by our Lord's sacrifice, and that no human work is too lowly -to be recognised by the Saviour of the world; the two foregoing figures -are in a wonderful state of preservation, whilst the other figures, -which practically cover the walls of the body of the Church, and are -in a more or less faded and obliterated condition, consist of -representations of St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, St. Corentine, St. Michael, -St. Giles, St. Germoe and St. Thomas of Canterbury. - -At the time of the restoration, in making certain necessary excavations, -large numbers of human bones in extremely shallow graves were discovered -all over the interior of the Church. One large vault was found in the -nave, a little in front of the site of the present pulpit, quite empty -save for a handful of bones. This vault was about seven feet deep. All -the remains found beneath the flooring of the Church were carefully -buried under the superintendence of Mr. Barnes in this empty vault -beneath a large cross of flowers; the vault was then carefully covered -over with concrete. Amongst the bones deposited in this receptacle were -the six skeletons mentioned in a former chapter, which were found lying -side by side, their skulls perforated with bullet wounds. - -In 1910 Mrs. Cornelia Carter, of Philadelphia, U.S.A., placed a clock in -the Church tower to the memory of her husband, Mr. William Thornton -Carter, who, leaving Breage as a comparatively poor lad, rose to a -position of great wealth in America. In his latter years his memory -often turned with affection to the far-off Cornish home of his youth, -and he used to speak fondly of the old village Church with its far -reaching view over the waters of the Atlantic, under the shadow of whose -grey tower he passed as a little lad each morning on his way to school. -At the same time were placed in the Church three windows to different -members of the Carter family. - -The gifts of the Carter family to the Church stirred the parishioners to -the putting in order of the huge single bell, the largest in Cornwall, -which had long hung mute in the belfry. The quaint motto "_Complures -populo, suppetit una Deo_," runs round the base of the bell, with the -date of its casting in 1771. This motto may be roughly translated "The -people desire many bells, but one suffices God." This curious motto -supplies a hint at the cause of the casting of this bell; the event -happened during the incumbency of the Reverend Edward Marshall. It seems -that it was the custom of those days for the bell ringers of the -neighbouring village Churches to exchange visits of friendly rivalry. On -these occasions quantities of strong waters found their way into the -belfries, and their fumes into the brains of the ringers, with the -result that the bells - - "In the startled ear of night, - Too much horrified to speak - They can only shriek, shriek, - Out of tune: - Leaping, higher, higher, higher, - With a desperate desire, - And a resolute endeavour, - Now, now, to sit or never, - By the side of the pale-faced moon. - Oh the bells, bells, bells! - What a tale their terror tells, - Of despair! - How they clang and clash and roar! - What a horror they outpour - On the bosom of the palpitating air!" - -On one of these uproarious occasions the tenor bell broke away from its -fastenings, and instead of sitting by the pale-faced moon, it came -crashing through the belfry floor on to the flags at the base of the -tower, nearly annihilating in the process some of the exuberant ringers. -The nocturnal clash and roar seems, if tradition speaks true, to have -frequently lasted all through the night. On New Year's Eve especially it -was the custom to continue ringing the bells through the majority of the -hours of darkness that remained after midnight. There being no -regulations as to the hour of closing public houses in those days, on -these occasions of festivity they remained open until all hours of the -morning, and strong waters thus passed freely between the public house -and the belfry, the distance being so short between them. The endless -jangle of the midnight bells, it is said, got on the nerves of the -Reverend Edward Marshall; more possibly his sense of decency and fitness -was stirred by these wild doings. To remedy the evil he took the drastic -action of melting the four mediæval bells down into the present big one -on the fall of the tenor bell from its fastening in the tower, much -against the wishes of his parishioners, as the motto round the base of -the bell more than hints. The process of recasting took place in the -large field on the south side of the Church. This drastic operation only -seems to have made matters worse, as on the following New Year's Eve, a -lusty band of Tinners took possession of the belfry, and the awful -"boom," "boom" of the big bell, in ceaseless iteration, sounded out over -land and sea, banishing sleep through the livelong night from all within -easy distance of Breage Church Tower. - -We may remark that Edward Marshall was a Fellow of Exeter College, -Oxford, and son of the Reverend William Marshall, of Ashprington, -Devonshire. His wife was a member of the Sandys family, of Lanarth, and -his grandson long represented Taunton in Parliament. - -The Germoe bells were purchased by public subscription and placed in -Germoe Church in 1753. The tenor bell, weighing 7 cwt., merely records -the names of Edward Collins, vicar, and Samuel Lemon and Simon Harry, -Churchwardens; the second bell weighs 5-1/2 cwt., and has engraved upon -it "Prosperity to this parish." The treble bell, weighing 4-1/2 cwt., -records the fact that "Abraham Rudhall caste us all." The Communion -plate both at Breage and Germoe was the gift of Dr. Godolphin, Dean of -St. Paul's; he was the brother of the great Sidney Godolphin. The plate -in all consists of three very large silver-gilt flagons, two cups, one -large silver paten and two small ones; these bear the date 1692. The -entry recording the gift which appears in the Church registers runs as -follows: "The gift of plate to our parish by Dr. Henry Godolphin and the -Communion table railed in, in the year of our Lord Christ, 1693, Richard -Carleen." - -The registers date from 1559, but contain a number of breaks, the -largest of which naturally begins with the latter years of the -Protectorate, and for some unexplained reason continues well on into the -reign of Charles II. The registers make it clear that at the time of -their commencement there were still a number of people living in this -remote corner of the West without any surname at all; such entries as -"Wilhelmus servus Wilhelmi Polkynhorne," "Johes servus Stepeni -Treworlis," and "Margareta filia Thoms Robert," are all culled from the -first page of the burial register. Gradually at this period the -Christian names of the fathers were being adopted by the sons as -surnames. The surnames Richards, Edwards, James, Thomas, Johns, -Williams, Stephens were thus evolved; Richards or Williams being in the -first instance mere abbreviations of the possessive form, son of Richard -or son of William; quite ninety per cent. of the surnames in the parish -fall under this head. - -The great majority of the surnames in the parish which have not been -formed in the foregoing way were in their original form local place -names. The entry "Johes servus Stepheni Treworlis," given in the -preceding paragraph, gives us an example of the method of their -adoption; the descendants of Stephen Treworlis in succeeding -generations, as the registers show, being grouped under the names of -Stephens or Treworlis, no doubt as chance or fancy had decided. - -The following extracts from the registers recording either the marriage -or deaths of the persons mentioned bring out another curious factor in -the formation of local surnames, "Jo Brown, alias Uninformed," "Thomas -Sampson, alias Cunning Boy," "John Arthur, alias Plain Dealing"; these -entries all occur previous to 1696: at later dates we have "Jane the -daughter of Edmund the Tod-stoole," "Thomas, alias Punch of Germoe." -Scattered through the registers we also find the elegant aliases "Two -Suppers," "Stink," "Ginger," "Dissembler," "Onwise." A series of entries -dating from 1713 show us how these nicknames in the course of time -crystallized into actual surnames. In 1713 we have the entry "Nicholas -Cornish, alias Cold Pye," in the following year he is mentioned as -Nicholas Cornish Coldpy, whilst in later years he figures in the -registers simply as Nicholas Colpy. It is interesting to speculate upon -the attempts at derivation that an antiquary or genealogist not knowing -the true facts might devise as an explanation of the surname "Colpy." - -A further curious instance of the method of the formation of local -surnames is vouchsafed in our rather common surname "Meagor." The -earliest form of this name in the registers is "Meneager," _e.g._ "Avis -filia Thoms Meneager, 1579," or in plain English, "Avis the daughter of -Thomas of the Meneage District." - -The earlier Breage registers contain here and there surnames that are -not of local origin, and which savour of romance and adventure in lives -long since folded in utter oblivion. In 1511 I find the death of Hugh -Grymme de Godolphin recorded, in 1600 the marriage of Edmundus Erasmus, -and a little later on one William Dellaregetto is laid to rest at Breage, -whilst the name of Angus Macdonald appears in the Germoe registers after -the Forty Five. - -The story of Hugh Grymme or Graeme is not difficult to piece together in -its main outlines without being too fanciful. The wanderings of this -northern Ulysses from the home of his clan on the shores of the Solway -would make an interesting Odyssey, could they be distilled from the -mists of the past. One sees the vague outline of it all fitfully. His -fellow Borderers at this time,--the Armstrongs, the Elliots, the Ridleys -and a hundred others--were sadly realizing that times had changed since -Flodden Field, that ceaseless Border strife was coming to an end, that -law was beginning to grow stronger in its grasp, and that raids and -forays and cattle-lifting expeditions were each year becoming -accompanied more and more with such unpleasant and undignified incidents -as hangings at Jedburgh and Carlisle. For such roystering blades it was -impossible to hang spear, sword, helmet and breastplate for ever to rust -upon the wall, and to sink down into the life of dull tillers of the -soil. There was nothing else for them to do than to troop off to the -Irish wars, where they could raid and harry and slaughter the Irish to -their hearts' content, all in the name of good Queen Bess, and not in -defiance of her Wardens of the Marches. Many of these riders of the -Borders founded families in Ireland, and came to own broad acres, and -many no doubt found nameless graves. Hugh Graeme, it would seem -probable, was one of these Border adventurers who found neither wealth -nor a grave in Ireland, but service with Sir William Godolphin, who had -spent his youth fighting under Essex in Ireland. No doubt Hugh Graeme -had ridden behind Sir William in his campaigns, often with death on his -saddle bow, and when fighting days were over came with his master to -Godolphin, where Death, who had passed him by in the wars, found him and -claimed him. - -The name Erasmus twice occurs in the Breage registers, and in the next -generation makes its appearance in the guise of "Rasmus." In 1660 the -marriage of Edmundus Erasmus is recorded with Johanna Caraver. I cannot -think that in this case Erasmus is a mere second Christian name, because -shortly after we have the baptism entry "Thomas Erasmus," and in 1687 we -have the marriage entry "Joisea Rasmus." Nor do I think it probable that -the surname Erasmus, as it occurs in the Breage registers, grew out of a -Christian name given in the first instance on account of its popularity -with Reformers, because in this case the registers would have shewn some -trace of Erasmus used as a Christian name, which they do not. - -The appearance of this name in the registers tallies with the great -activity of Sir Francis Godolphin in developing the tin mines upon his -estates. Under the circumstances it seems probable that Edmundus Erasmus -was one of the Continental experts whom we know that he employed in -improving the local methods of mining; this conclusion, however, in no -way elucidates the mystery that clings round the name. The great -humanist namesake of Edmundus, who died in 1536, was, like many of the -Cornish tinners, born without a surname, his father only possessing the -Christian name of Gerhard, of which Erasmus is meant to be the Greek -rendering. We may therefore very well conclude that no other surname of -Erasmus existed in the world, save that of the great humanist, and that -it must have begun and ended with him, because as a priest he could have -had no legitimate issue. On the other hand, I cannot think that anyone -would adopt Erasmus as a surname having absolutely no connection in -blood with the great Dutch scholar. Here we have one of those strange -and often fascinating mysteries with which the registers of our parishes -abound. Their yellow pages so often, like withered rose leaves, suggest -the joy, the youth, the sunlight and the tragedy of forgotten summers. - -In 1686 we find the marriage entry of William Dellaregetto, and in 1730 -the entry of the marriage of Zenobia Dellaregetto. The name Dellaregetto -certainly suggests the sunny skies of Italy, whilst Angus Macdonald -conjures up a vision of the Scottish Highlands. Possibly the first -Dellaregetto may have been some Italian sailor cast away upon our -shores. From a descendant of Angus Macdonald, still living in the -parish, I have been able to obtain a fleeting glimpse of the story of -this man. He arrived (I imagine on board some smuggling craft) about one -hundred and fifty years ago, and settled for a year or two at Rinsey and -went through the ceremony of marriage with a Breage woman, after having -been a resident at Rinsey for some little time. Tradition says that he -was a person with plenty of money, and a man of high station in his own -country, and that at the close of the wars a price was set upon his head -by the Government. If tradition speaks true it seems probable, -considering the date of his coming, that this Macdonald was a man of -some importance, who had been out in the Forty Five,--possibly some -minor chief of the clan Macdonald. He disappeared as suddenly as he -came, whether to his native land on having made his peace with the -Government, or, as is more probable, to join his exiled compatriots in -France or Spain, where life was less dull, who can say? At any rate, his -Cornish wife and children saw and heard of him no more. His descendants -are still living in the parish. - -Perhaps the following curious entry from the registers may be of -interest to the reader: "Thomas Epsley, senior, of Chilchampton, parish -of Bath and Wells, Summersitsheers; he was the man who brought here the -rare invention of shooting the rocks, which came here in June, 1689, and -he died at the Bal and was buried at Breag, the 16th day of December, in -the yeare of Our Lord Christ, 1689." Subsequent entries in the burial -register make it clear that "the rare invention of shooting the rocks" -_i.e._ blasting, was anything but an unmixed blessing to those who had -to apply it to the rocks. - -I find in the registers the record of a great snowstorm in December, -1630, in which four persons perished, and another at the end of January -and the beginning of February, 1692. To these great snowstorms may well -be added that of March, 1891, which not only isolated the parish from -the rest of the world, but the householders from each other, save in the -village and hamlets, for several days. This terrible storm also levied -from the parish its toll of human life. - -The following grim entry from the burial register, bearing date 2nd -February, 1693, illustrates the methods and views of a former age, which -seem strangely out of touch with our own: "Samuel Rogers, of Crava, -being excommunicate, was laid in the earth in the Church at night." - -I find in the registers the records of but few briefs. At Germoe in 1682 -five shillings was collected for the "distressed Protestants of -France," and in the same year ten shillings for the sufferers in the -great fire at the town of Cullompton in Devonshire. At Breage I only -find records of briefs in the year 1712: they were for the restoration -of Battle Bridge, West Tilbury and St. Clement's Church, presumably of -this diocese. - -It is to be regretted that the churchwardens' accounts have long since, -through damp and neglect, passed beyond the stage when it is possible to -examine them. The Parish Councils Act with all its benefits committed a -terrible mistake in consigning the ancient records of the Church -Vestries, in many cases going back for hundreds of years, to the custody -of simple, well-meaning but unlettered men, with no realisation of the -value of ancient documents. Too often they have been jumbled into an old -wooden box in a damp vestry room, and left to grow green with mould and -disintegrate into an evil-smelling paste; at least such is an instance -in the writer's experience. In another case, the fountain of village -wisdom informed a learned antiquary that he could not be allowed to -inspect their documents; whilst in a third case the clerk to a Parish -Council parted with an ancient document, that had come down through the -generations with the Church Vestry papers, to an old gentleman who was -in the habit of shewing it to his friends as a curiosity. On the death -of the old gentleman in question a friend of the writer, in the hope -that the document might prove of interest, and that he might be able to -return it to the vicar of the parish from whence it had been originally -taken, endeavoured to purchase it from the heir, when it transpired that -the document had been burnt as waste paper. - -The following items from the Breage churchwardens' accounts I have been -able to cull from a note-book of the Reverend Jocelyn Barnes. Whilst of -no paramount importance, they serve as vivid illustrations of the -dead-and-gone life of the village. - - 1774--Mr. John Hood and Company for Oilcloth Umbrella for the - Parson at funerals, £1 0s. 6d. - - 1772--For the charge of prosecuting against the Kitows for the - murder of Henry Thomas, junior, as per bill of particulars, £18 4s. - 2d. - - 1797--Feb. 2nd, to a new white sheet for William Fischer to do - penance, 6d.; ditto, to the expense of the occasion, one shilling. - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[43] See Jenner's "Handbook of the Cornish Language." - -[44] See Bouse's "Collectanea." - - - - -THE GODOLPHINS. - -CHAPTER VI. - - -[Illustration: Godolphin House.] - -The family of Godolphin is by far the greatest and most important that -has issued from our parish. Their original abode, according to the -statement of Leland, was a fortified stronghold or tower on Godolphin -Hill, the remains of which were in existence in his time. The origin of -the family is lost in obscurity, but the curious tenure under which the -Manor of Godolphin is still held from the owner of the Manor of -Lambourne makes it clear that they were not tenants-in-chief from the -Earls of Cornwall. A passing allusion to the curious nature of this -tenure may be pardoned. Each Candlemas morning at six o'clock, beneath -the twinkling stars, or more probably in the black darkness of rain and -tempest, the Reeve of Lambourne still pays his yearly visit to Godolphin -House. Beating on the outer oaken doors of the ancient mansion, he -peremptorily demands admission. On the doors being opened, without -waiting for invitation he enters the house and mounting upon the table -of the hall he exclaims "O Yes! O Yes! O Yes! I am the Reeve of -Lambourne in Perransand, come here to demand the old rent, duties and -customs due to the lords of the said manor from the lands of Godolphin." -In response to the summons of the Reeve there is brought him 2s. 8d. in -rent, a jack of strong beer, a loaf of bread and a cheese. Out of the -fact of this ancient tenure the incorrigible Hals has woven one of his -innumerable romances, for which not one iota of evidence worthy of -consideration exists. Hals possessed the art of evolving history of a -libellous and defamatory character from his own inner consciousness in a -way that has been seldom equalled. - -After a number of generations the ancient race of Godolphin centred in -an heiress Elinor or Elianora, who married John Rinsey of Rinsey, thus -joining the estates of Rinsey and Godolphin. On 2nd December, 1398, John -Rinsey of Godolphin and Rinsey and Elianora his wife received a licence -from Bishop Stafford for oratories on their manors of Godolphin and -Rinsey. The arms of this worthy pair are still to be seen quartered on -the 15th century screen of Buryan Church. - -Hals' story about the Godolphin estates passing by marriage to the -Arundells of Perransand, and being sold to one Stephens or Knava, on the -above-mentioned tenure, rests upon no proof save that the name of Knava -happened to be common in Breage in his time, and it finds no support -from the descent of the family given by Vivian. - -John Godolphin of Godolphin, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1504, must be -regarded as the real John of Hapsbourg of his race. I am led to conclude -that the Master Thomas Godolphin who became vicar of Breage in 1505 was -the younger son of this founder of the family greatness. - -The south-east corner of Breage Church, now called the Godolphin -Chapel, was the burying-place of this ancient family from the period of -its rise to greatness, though no monument of any kind preserves the -memory of those whose earthly remains rest there. It seems incredible -that no monuments to the memory of departed Godolphins ever marked the -site of their last resting-place. Sir Francis Godolphin, who lived in -the time of Elizabeth, was a man of vast wealth, as well as vast -influence. The age of Elizabeth was an age of ornate and magnificent -tombs; they still survive in great numbers in our country churches, of -elaborate character with rows of kneeling figures and inscriptions that -will suggest the lines: - - "The sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, - And storied urns record who rests below; - When all is done upon the tomb is seen - Not what he was, but what he should have been." - -The conclusion is forced upon us that at some period the tombs of the -Godolphins were removed and desecrated. As to the period there can be -little doubt; it can only be placed in the time of the Independent -ascendancy, during the Protectorate. The Godolphins had distinguished -themselves by their fearless loyalty to the exiled house, and had -rendered themselves a target for the animosity of the Government and -local fanatics and sectaries. Their elaborate tombs were thus perhaps -conveniently confused with the emblems of superstition, and their -recesses rifled in search of sacrilegious booty. - -The helmets of three Godolphins still hang in the south-east corner of -the church, the silken banners that once hung with them having long -since mouldered into dust. At the restoration of the church in 1892 two -large marble slabs were removed from the floor of the church, which -marked the stairway leading to the Godolphin vault. John Evelyn, in his -account of the burial of Margaret Godolphin, speaks of this quiet corner -as the "dormitorie of her family." - -[Illustration: A Godolphin Helmet in Breage Church.] - -Sir John Godolphin was succeeded by his son, Sir William Godolphin: this -Knight in his turn was repeatedly Sheriff of Cornwall. We may gather -from the State Papers[45] that his character and principles, to say the -least, were somewhat robust. Ships cast upon the wild, rockbound coast -of Breage, it is complained, were snapped up as toothsome morsels by the -Sheriff, and their contents carried doubtless as loot to Godolphin. His -burial is recorded in the Breage register on 30th July, 1570. He was -succeeded by his son, the heroic Sir William Godolphin, who covered -himself with glory in the short war waged by Henry VIII. against Francis -I., which terminated in the defeat of the French at the Battle of the -Spurs. Carew says of this brave Knight that "he added lustre to his fame -at the expense of his face." This statement has reference to a charge -made by Sir William and his brother Thomas, at the head of the force -under his command, which resulted in the rout of the French opposed to -them and the grievous shortening of Sir William's nose by a sword cut. -This warrior at home seems to have practised the robust methods of his -father. In 1575 we find the [46]Crown preferring fifteen charges against -him, thirteen of which were for piracy in conjunction with the -Killigrews of Arwennick. He lies buried in Finchley Churchyard, and some -faithful follower who had wandered over the fields of Picardy with him -in search of military glory placed the following epitaph upon his tomb: - - "Godolphin his race to rest hath run, - Where grace affords felicity; - His death is gone, his life hath wone - Eternal perpetuity. - Though William his corpse here doth lie - Barnes' faith in him shall never die." - -His wife Dame Blanche Godolphin lies at Breage. As Sir William left no -son his estates devolved on his nephew, Sir Francis, son of Thomas -Godolphin, who had, as we have already seen, distinguished himself in -the war with France. Of Sir Francis Godolphin, Carew says, "Zeal in -religion, uprightness in government and plentifulness in house-keeping -had given him a great reputation." - -As well as having distinguished himself in the dreary wars of Ireland, -Sir Francis had applied his mind to the problems of scientific mining on -his estates, to his own great profit. In looking over the pages of the -Church registers, I was perplexed to find the frequent recurrence of the -name Erasmus. There can be but little doubt that the first Erasmus whose -name appears in the registers was a Dutchman brought to Breage by Sir -Francis Godolphin in connection with his great projects of scientific -mining. Sir Francis was Governor of the Scilly Islands. As Governor he -rebuilt the ruined fortress of St. Mary, and made it so strong that it -successfully resisted all the assaults of the Parliamentary forces until -the close of the Civil War. The heroic attempt of Sir Francis Godolphin -to defend Penzance against the attacking Spaniards has been dealt with -in another place. - -Sir Francis corresponded with Cecil Lord Burleigh, and we thus get from -the Hatfield MS. a faint, blurred picture of the soul of this brave -Cornish squire. In his last letter to Cecil, dated Tavistock, 8th -October, 1601, he speaks of his "project as touching the wars in -Ireland."[47] He married first Margaret, daughter of John Killigrew, of -Arwenack, and secondly Alice, daughter of John Skerrit, and widow of -John Glanville, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Of one of these -ladies the following quaint story still survives: Sir Francis had taken -into his confidence an attorney of Ottery St. Mary, named John Cole, and -ultimately employed him as his agent. This person embarked in mining -speculations on his own account with disastrous results, which soon -hurried him into the paths of fraud. John Cole's blocks of tin bore for -purposes of identification the figure of a cat stamped upon them, whilst -those of his master bore the impress of a dolphin. Emboldened by -successful peculations, the sign of the cat appeared in ever-increasing -numbers where the sign of the dolphin should have been displayed. The -suspicions of Lady Godolphin, more shrewd in this respect than her -husband, were aroused. Accompanied by a maid, she repaired to the -Godolphin Blowing House on foot, where she found numerous blocks of tin -unlawfully stamped with the sign of the cat. On her return to Godolphin -House, she found Sir Francis and a number of friends wondering at her -absence, prolonged long past the appointed hour of dinner. She explained -that during her absence she "had been watching a cat eating a dolphin." -The Breage registers record the burial of Sir Francis Godolphin on 23rd -April, 1608. - -Sir Francis was succeeded by his son, Sir William Godolphin, educated at -Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the home in those days of Puritan learning. -Sir William also had distinguished himself under Essex in Ireland ere he -succeeded his father; tradition says that he had been knighted for his -bravery on the field of battle. In 1606 he was employed by the -Government on a mission to Paris, the object of which is unknown. In an -extant letter to Cecil[48] he complains that his means were inadequate -to meet the expenses of the mission. He represented Cornwall once, if -not twice, in Parliament. He married Thomasina, the daughter of Thomas -Sidney, of Wrighton, in Norfolk. It was thus that the Christian name of -Sidney was introduced into the Godolphin family. The Breage registers -record his burial on 5th September, 1613. His eldest son William died -whilst still a youth, when on a visit to Bruton Abbey, in Somersetshire; -he was thus succeeded by his second son Francis, a boy of fourteen at -the time of his father's death. - -It was during the lifetime of this Sir Francis that Charles II., then -Prince of Wales, took refuge at Godolphin House, on his flight to the -Scilly Islands on the complete collapse of the Royal cause. Charles -remembered the services of his faithful Cornish squire, and at his -accession made him a Knight of the Bath, and entrusted to his charge the -State prisoners, Sir Harry Vane and General Ireton; at the same time -the foundation of the fortunes of his third son, Sidney, was laid by -admission to the Royal household. Sir Francis represented St. Ives and -other constituencies in Parliament. He and his wife, Dame Dorothy, -daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley, of Yarlington in Somerset, were both -buried in Breage Church. Sir Francis was succeeded by his eldest son, -Sir William, who died without issue, and is buried at Breage. His fourth -son, Henry Godolphin, D.D., was Provost of Eton for thirty-five years, -and ultimately became Dean of St. Paul's. The silver-gilt Communion -services still in use at both the Churches of Breage and Germoe were the -gift of Henry Godolphin, whilst Dean of St Paul's. The record of his -baptism occurs in our registers on 15th August, 1648. - -No account of the house of Godolphin would be complete without mention -of the brave and debonair Sidney Godolphin, poet, soldier and -philosopher, brother of the foregoing Sir Francis Godolphin, K.B. He was -the trusted friend of the statesman Clarendon, Hobbes the philosopher, -and Waller the Cavalier poet. These three friendships in themselves made -clear the temper of his mind. He sat in three Parliaments as member for -Helston. He espoused in Parliament the cause of Strafford, and when -peace seemed hopeless, he withdrew to the King at Oxford. The Earl of -Clarendon in his history of the Great Rebellion has left a vivid -portrait of his character and personality. He describes him as of small -stature, but of sharp and keen wit, with a mind tinged with melancholy -and fitfulness. He tells us that he would scarcely stir out of doors in -windy or rainy weather, and that at Court he mingled freely with the -greatest of the realm. He died fighting for his King at Chagford, in -Devonshire, in an obscure skirmish, and lies buried in Okehampton Parish -Church. It is evident that he had inherited the nature of his mother, -and was a Sidney both in mind and in person rather than a Godolphin. -Sidney Godolphin was before his age, and his philosophic mind revolted -at the miserable tangle of religion and politics, and the degrading -spirit of religious intolerance and persecution manifested by all -parties. Of him it might have been well said: "_Qui n'as pas l'esprit de -son âge, de son âge a tout le malheur._" On his tomb are inscribed the -following pathetic lines by his friend Hobbs: - - "Thou art dead, Godolphin, who lov'dst reason true, - Justice and peace, soldier belov'd, adieu." - -The following entry in the Breage registers, which casts a sidelight on -the story of the Godolphin family, has a pathos all its own: "Franciscus -Berkeley, filius Caroli Berkeley militis, sepultus fuit 27 Septembri, -1635." The mother of the child whose death is thus recorded was -Penelope, daughter of Sir William Godolphin, and the sister of Sir -Francis and Sidney Godolphin. Penelope Godolphin had been married to Sir -Charles Berkeley in Breage Church, September, 1627. Possibly the rapid -rise of the Godolphin family was due to some extent to this marriage -into the powerful family of Berkeley. Sir Charles Berkeley afterwards -became Viscount Hardinge, and ultimately Earl of Falmouth, and is said -in the main to have been responsible for the failure of the negotiations -between Cromwell and Ireton on the one hand, and Charles I. on the -other, for the restoration of Charles once more, to a peaceful, if a -more limited authority over his people. - -The child whose death the entry records had doubtless come with his -parents to his mother's ancestral home. Penelope Berkeley no doubt -returned to the old home of her childhood full of dreams of the renewal -of the life of her girlhood, proud of her firstborn, heir to a great -name. It all ended, alas! in the laying of the body of her babe in the -old grey Church on the hill, overlooking the sea, 'midst the dust of his -maternal ancestors. - -The parish has produced only one great man of the first rank, Sidney -Godolphin, Earl of Godolphin, third son of the Sir Francis honoured by -Charles II. Our Church registers record the baptism of Sidney Godolphin -in the following words: "Sidoni, the son of Francis Godolphin and -Dorothy his wife, was baptized 15th day of June, 1644." Sidney Godolphin -almost immediately after the Restoration became a page in the Royal -household, and it was not long before the King conceived a strong -personal liking for the son of the Cornish squire with whom he had found -a refuge in the darkest hour of his fortunes. The regard of the merry -Monarch made smooth the path of rapid advancement for Sidney Godolphin. -Like his uncle of the same name, at an early age he entered Parliament -as member for Helston. It is said that he very seldom spoke in the House -of Commons, but quickly earned a reputation as a man of keen financial -grasp and insight, and that his opinion on matters of finance soon came -to be regarded as of great weight. In 1679 he was promoted with Viscount -Hyde, afterwards Earl of Rochester, and the Earl of Sunderland to the -chief management of affairs. In September, 1684, he was created Baron -Godolphin of Rialton, and succeeded the Earl of Rochester as First Lord -of the Treasury. James II. extended to him the same favour and -confidence that King Charles had given to him. He was one of the Council -of Five to whom James left the management of affairs when he left London -to meet the advancing forces of the Prince of Orange. On the utter -collapse of the cause of James II. he was one of the Commissioners -appointed to negotiate with William Prince of Orange. He continued in -office under William III., whilst at the same time, like his friend the -Duke of Marlborough, he carried on a secret correspondence with James at -St. Germans. No doubt all his real sympathies were with the cause of the -exiled Monarch. In the reign of Anne he was largely instrumental in -bringing about the Act of Union with Scotland; and by his great ability -as a Minister of Finance he alone rendered possible the victorious -prosecution of the war with France. He was created Earl of Godolphin in -1706. His position as a Minister of Finance in a venal age gave him -unlimited opportunities for peculation, which others would have -unblushingly seized, but he remained incorruptible, and at his death in -1712 was found to be worth only £12,000. He was buried in Westminster -Abbey. - -The life of Sidney Godolphin was early clouded by a great sorrow. At the -age of thirty he had married Margaret Blague, daughter of Colonel -Blague, of Horningsheath. Three years after their marriage, in 1678, -Margaret Godolphin's saintly life came to an end. John Evelyn has -rendered the story of her short life in a sense the common heritage of -all English men and women. By her purity and simple goodness of -character she came to exercise an influence upon an evil and licentious -Court, and for posterity she stands out as one of its brightest -ornaments. I extract the following fragment from Evelyn's memoir of her: -"She died in the 26 yeare of age, to the inexpressible affliction of her -deare husband. She was for beauty and good nature, wit, fidelity and -discretion the most incomparable person. Her husband, struck with the -unspeakable affliction, fell down as dead. The King himself and all the -Court expressed their sorrow. To the poore and miserable her loss was -irreparable, for there was no degree but had some obligation to her -memorie. She desired to be buried in the dormitorie of her husband's -family, neere 300 miles from all her other friends. So afflicted was her -husband at this severe loss that the entire care of her funeral was -committed to me. Having closed her eyes, and dropped a teare upon the -cheeke of my deare departed friend, lovely even in death, I caused the -corpse to be embalmed and wrapped in lead, with a plate of brass -soldered thereon, with an inscription and other circumstances due to her -worth, with as much diligence and care that my grieved heart would -permit me. She was accordingly carried to Godolphin, in Cornwall, in a -hearse with six horses, attended by two coaches of as many, with about -thirty of her relations and servants. There accompanied the hearse her -husband's brother, Sir William, two more of his brothers and his three -sisters; her husband was so overcome with grief that he was wholly unfit -to travel so long a journey till he was more composed. I went as far as -Hounslow with a sad heart, but was obliged to return on some -indispensable affairs. The corpse was ordered to be taken out of the -hearse every night, and decently placed in ye house, with tapers about -it, and her servants attending to Cornwall; and then was honorably -interr'd in the Parish Church of Godolphin. This funeral cost not much -less than £1000. With Mr. Godolphin I looked over and sorted his lady's -papers. We found a diary of her solemn resolutions, all tending to -practical virtue. It astonish'd us to see what she had read and written, -her youth considered." - -A brass with the following inscription marks the spot in Breage Church, -in front of the altar in the south aisle, beneath which the earthly -remains of Margaret Godolphin lie: "Beneath this brass repose the mortal -remains of Margaret Godolphin, daughter of Colonel Blague, of -Horningsheath, Groom of the Bedchamber to King Charles I.; the wife of -Sidney Godolphin, afterwards Earl of Godolphin; and the friend of John -Evelyn, who has told the story of her noble life. She wished to rest at -Breage, the cradle of her husband's race. Born 2nd August, 1652. She -died in London 9th September, 1678. This brass was placed to her memory -by George Godolphin Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds." - -It seems to have been the custom of the Lord High Treasurer, at any rate -until his later years, from time to time to visit his old Cornish home, -which, it may be added, did not become his property until two years -before his death at the decease of his elder brother in 1710. - -An interesting picture of these visits has come down to us from the -father of Dr. Borlase,[49] of antiquarian fame, who in his youth was -present on one of these occasions. He says that at this time no regular -post or means of transit, either for persons or things, were to be found -beyond Exeter, but when masses of letters had accumulated at Exeter they -were from time to time sent on to Cornwall, as occasion might serve, by -a system which was called the post. When the Lord High Treasurer, -however, visited Godolphin, he had a weekly messenger from Exeter -bringing letters, despatches and a newspaper; and on the fixed day of -the messenger's arrival all the gentlemen for many miles round assembled -at Godolphin House to hear the newspaper read in the great hall. - -A number of letters addressed to Sidney Godolphin by his mother and -other members of his family still survive in the British Museum[50] also -letters of Sidney and his sisters to their mother. These letters give a -deeply interesting picture of the family life as lived at Godolphin. -Some of the letters of his sisters to their mother deal with the things -they saw and did on their visits to London. Money seems to have been not -too abundant at this period in the Godolphin family, and considerations -of ways and means constantly obtrude themselves in the letters. In one -letter the future Lord High Treasurer is commissioned by his mother to -purchase the wedding trousseau of one of his sisters; to this letter of -his mother the future Finance Minister replies that he has purchased the -dresses that a "Mrs. Stuart had had out of France just before the Court -went into mourning." This engagement between his sister Catherine and a -Mr. Dryden ultimately came to naught. Catherine remained unmarried, and -was the last of her line to be laid in the "dormitorie" of her race in -Breage Church. She died 7th October, 1678. - -Godolphin House was fitfully inhabited by Francis, 2nd Earl of -Godolphin, the only son of the Lord High Treasurer, for a few summer -months. He seems to have somewhat enlarged the house and built the front -portico and colonnade of granite from Tregoning Hill. Since his death in -1766 this ancient house has never been inhabited by its owners, and of -it may be said in the words of Hafiz: - -"The spider has woven her web in the palace and the owl hath sung her -watch song on the towers." - -In concluding the account of the family of Godolphin, it is fitting to -make some mention of Sir William Godolphin, of Treveneag, in the parish -of Mabe. He was the grandson of that Sir Francis Godolphin who so -gallantly attempted to defend Penzance against the Spaniards, his father -being John Godolphin, Captain of the Scilly Isles. Sir William in the -days of the Commonwealth had eulogised the Protector in fulsome verses -still extant: when the Protector was dead, and could no longer punish or -reward, we find him on the other hand assailing his memory with virulent -abuse. It is only just to add that whilst singing the praises of the -Protector, he was in full communication with the spies and agents of -Charles. Having so carefully prepared for the future, at the Restoration -his advance was rapid. In 1661 he became member of Parliament for -Camelford, and spoke vehemently in favour of the sanctity of the Royal -prerogative, not going without substantial reward for his exuberant -loyalty. Mr. Pepys describes him as "a very pretty and able person; a -man of very fine parts." He affected science as then understood, and -became a Fellow of the newly-formed Royal Society, and on account of the -sunshine of the Royal favour in which he basked received the honorary -degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. He ultimately became -Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain, but was summoned home -during the frenzy of the Popish Plot on a charge of high treason. Sir -William under the circumstances thought it more prudent to disregard -the command and remain at Madrid as a private person, which he continued -to do until the day of his death in 1696. At his death he left -considerable property in Madrid, Rome, Venice and Amsterdam, which -continued for a number of years to be the source of much litigation. A -portion of the property was ultimately employed, in accordance with the -provisions of Sir William's will, in founding the Godolphin School at -Hammersmith. The Godolphin School at Salisbury, it may be added, was -founded by his niece, Elizabeth Godolphin. - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[45] State Papers, 1526. - -[46] State Papers. - -[47] See "The Life of Sidney Godolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot. - -[48] See "The Life of Sidney Godolphin," by the Hon. Hugh Eliot. - -[49] See Gilbert's History of Cornwall. - -[50] Life of Sidney Godolphin by the Hon. Hugh Eliot. - - - - -The Arundells, de Pengersicks, Militons and Sparnons. - -CHAPTER VII. - - -At the conclusion of the Norman Conquest all the land in the parish of -Breage was in the possession of the Earls of Cornwall, with the -exception of the manor of Methleigh, which still continued to be -attached to the See of Exeter. Methleigh passed from the Bishops of -Exeter[51] to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter about 1160. Soon afterwards -it was granted by the Dean and Chapter to the Nansladons, or Lansladons; -from this family it passed to the Chamonds, and from them to the -Arundells. - -In the fifteenth century the Arundells owned the Breage manors of -Pengwedna, Methleigh and Treworlas; in fact a very large section of the -parish. The ancient home of this family was at Yewton, in Devonshire, -where they had been settled since the days of King Stephen. They are -said to have been of Norman origin, and that the first form of their -name was Hirondelle; at any rate, the swallow figures upon their -shields. It is possible, on the other hand, that this device of the -swallow may have been merely due to the vogue for canting heraldry, an -example of which we have in the Godolphin helmets hanging from the roof -in Breage Church, which take the form of sea monsters or dolphins -rearing their heads above the waves. A more prosaic but probable origin -of the Arundells would connect them with the ancient Sussex town of that -name. The pathway of the Arundells to greatness[52] lay not so much by -the way of the tented field as along the flowery paths of successful -match-making; they moved forward rather to the music of wedding bells -than to the brazen blast of the trumpet sounding the charge. It was to -the former music that their broad lands in Breage came to them. - -In the thirteenth century Ralph Arundell had risen to influence and the -possession of the manors of Trembath and Treloy through marriage with -the heiress of the Trembaths; and in the following century his -descendant acquired the manor of Lanherne by marriage with the heiress -of the ancient house of Pincerna. - -The manor of Pengwedna in Breage was held by the senior branch of the -family, the Arundells of Lanherne; whilst the manors of Treworlas and -Methleigh were held by the Arundells of Tolverne, one of the junior -branches[53] of the family. Tolverne had come to the house of Arundell -in the usual way in the reign of Richard II., Sir John Arundell of -Lanherne having married the heiress of the manor, the daughter of Ralph -le Sore. Sir John Arundell bequeathed this estate to his second son, -Thomas, whose descendants held it until the time of Charles I. It was at -Tolverne that Henry VIII. was entertained with great magnificence by his -kinsman the Sir John Arundell of that day. - -The story of the coming of the Arundells of Tolverne to their small -manor of Truthual, in the parish of Sithney, is full of the flavour of -ancient romance. It was at the time that the world was still dreaming of -the land of El Dorado. The spoils of Mexico and Peru brought home by the -Spaniards had profoundly moved the imaginations of all adventurous -souls. Sir Thomas Arundell, of Tolverne, had listened to the tales of -home-coming[54] adventurers of a marvellous island on the coast of -America, called Old Brazil, where untold wealth lay ready as spoil for -the brave and stout-hearted. He wasted his substance in vain search for -this island of beauty and wealth--the pearl of American seas. Where he -searched we do not know; only that his search was vain, and that he -returned to his own land broken in fortune and probably also in spirit -and in health, and that he was compelled to part with his ancestral -acres of Tolverne and to make his home on his smaller estate in Sithney -and Breage, which still remained to him from the wreck of his fortunes. -He was succeeded by his son, John Arundell, who served as a Colonel of -Horse in the army of the King during the Civil War. This gallant soldier -was buried in the north aisle of Sithney Church, and the tablet to his -memory, which takes the form of a stone shield, blazoned with swallows, -is the only memorial now remaining of this once powerful family. The -male line of this branch of the family became extinct on the death of -John Arundell, in India, in 1776. Their estate of Methleigh was sold to -the Coode family in the eighteenth century, and still continues in their -possession. The manor of Treworlas which they had previously held in the -parish had passed in marriage to the Jago family in the seventeenth -century. The Arundells are still represented in our midst in the female -line in Messrs. John Arundell and William Arundell Pryor, of Lower and -Higher Pengwedna, through Margaret Arundell, who married Richard Pryor, -of Sithney, in 1704. - -The manor of Pengwedna remained in the family of Arundell, of Lanherne, -until it was sold in the eighteenth century by Lord Arundell of Wardour, -who had inherited the estates of his Cornish kinsmen. - -With regard to the manor of Methleigh, it may be worthy of mention that -an ancient chapel seems to have existed on this manor, close to -Tremearne Farm. A carved pillar of ecclesiastical design still survives, -now used as a gate-post, and from time to time carved stones have been -unearthed round the spot, one, I am told, containing a realistic -representation of the Crucifixion. Round the presumed site of this -chapel human bones have from time to time been laid bare. I have been -unable to find any record of this forgotten chapel. As the spot commands -a wide view of the sea, which beats upon the rocks below, its erection -may have been due to the vow of some voyager who had escaped from the -fury of the waves, and the bones resting round it may be those of -drowned mariners; or it may be that we have here the site of the oratory -of the ancient home of the Nansladons or the Chamonds; at any rate, all -record of this ancient house of God and God's acre have long since faded -into oblivion. - -From the ancient family of Arundell we naturally pass to the owners of -the tradition-haunted manor of Pengersick. An ancient race bearing the -name of the manor long flourished there, their first coming being long -since lost in the mists of the past. The Pengersicks are credited still -in the minds of the people as having been remorseless wreckers, luring -ships to their doom on the Sands of Praa by false lights displayed on -the shore. In a persistent tradition of this kind there is as a rule a -substratum of fact; tradition has been proved time after time to rest -upon a solid basis of truth, preserving for future generations a blurred -vision of events from a long-forgotten past. That the Pengersicks were -men of wild deeds, the assault by a member of the race, Henry de -Pengersick, on David de Lyspein, Vicar of Breage, in 1335, whilst -collecting the ecclesiastical dues of the parish, lends more than a -suggestion; the assault, as we have seen in a former chapter, being of -such a grievous and heinous nature as to lead to Henry Pengersick being -placed under the ban of excommunication. - -[Illustration: Pengersick Castle.] - -Mr. Robert Hunt, in his "Popular Romances of the West of England," has -preserved one of the wild Pengersick legends, which I venture to record -in an abbreviated form. The first Pengersick, so the legend runs, was a -proud man, and desired to ally himself, if possible, with one of the -great families of the county. In pursuance of this purpose he decided -that his only son should wed a lady of high degree who was by no means -young, and who had made her inclinations in the matter all too manifest. -The heir of Pengersick, however, had no desire to fall in with the plans -of his father and the wishes of the elderly spinster. The black witch of -Fraddam was therefore consulted--a terrible old beldam versed in all -manner of sorceries; but even the strongest love potions that she could -brew were powerless to melt the heart of young Pengersick. Love in the -heart of the spinster, subjected to constant rebuffs and coldness, began -to change to hate, and his father, finding that the heart of his son was -obdurate, and his nature most obstinate, made suit to the spinster of -high degree himself, and was smiled upon. Now it happened that the witch -of Fraddam had a niece called Bitha, who had assisted her aunt in the -brewing of her unholy potions. Bitha too, like the elderly spinster--now -spinster no longer--had also fallen under the spell of the manly beauty -of young Pengersick, and in order to win his affections determined to -take service with his stepmother, now duly ensconced in Pengersick -Castle. It fell out in the course of time as Bitha had hoped, and she -won young Pengersick's heart, but unfortunately their love was -discovered by the harridan stepmother; this discovery served only to -deepen her hatred for one whom previously she had so passionately loved. -She therefore determined once more without delay to employ the services -of the black witch of Fraddam, whom she had previously discarded as an -incapable physician. But here Bitha stepped in. She had not served an -apprenticeship to her aunt, the witch of Fraddam, in vain; she had kept -her eyes open all the while she had helped in filling the caldron on -Fraddam Down with horrible brews, and the knowledge thus obtained -enabled her now to foil all the spells of her aunt upon the life of her -beloved with more powerful counter-spells. At last the wicked old beldam -of Pengersick, despairing once more of the weapons of sorcery, -determined to arm herself with the more powerful ones of calumny and -slander. She succeeded in persuading the foolish old lord, her husband, -that his son was now manifesting the deepest affection towards her. This -tale was altogether too much for the dotard to bear, and it stung him to -ungovernable fury. He at once fell in with the carefully-prepared -promptings of his wife, and had his unfortunate son seized by a gang of -ruffian sailors, who carried him off to a ship that lay riding in the -bay, in which he was taken to Morocco and sold as a slave. After this we -gather that the poor old lord had little peace of mind; both mistress -and maid were at one in desiring his dissolution. It was not long, till -sad and weary he lay a-dying, when Bitha came and stood by his bed, and -with pleasing candour divested herself of the mask of kindly affection -behind which she had hitherto hidden herself, and in hard staccato tones -told him of the vile machinations of his wife, and that he was now dying -from the effects of slow poisons, which she herself had administered to -him. There was now nothing more left for the poor old lord of Pengersick -to do than to wearily turn his face to the wall and die, like many -before and after him to whom knowledge had come too late. - -After the lapse of long years, the heir of Pengersick suddenly returned -to his home, bringing with him a dusky Eastern bride, whose beauty was -like a dream. He and his bride were accompanied by two swarthy servants, -with whom they conversed in a strange language. The lord of Pengersick -used to ride forth from the castle mounted upon a coal-black charger; so -obedient and docile in all its ways was this steed to its master that it -soon came to be universally regarded as undoubtedly of satanic origin. -The new lord on his return found his wicked and foolish old stepmother -shut up in her chamber, with her skin covered with scales like a -serpent, from the effect of the fumes of the hell-broth that she had -been constantly brewing with the witch of Fraddam for his undoing and -the infatuation of the foolish old lord his father. In her pain and -misery she at last ridded him of her presence, and sought relief in -death by plunging into the waves of the sea. The fumes of the witch's -caldron, we gather, had also been too much for Bitha, and her once -beautiful face had taken on the hue of a toad. She lived on, an ugly and -miserable old crone, in a cot on St. Hilary Down. - -The Eastern bride of the lord of Pengersick was kind and gentle to all -with whom she had to do, and the lord himself, it was said, was generous -and helpful to all around; but he made no friendships nor held -intercourse with those of his own degree. The returned lord was, in -fact, a lonely and solitary man, riding forth alone and spending long -hours poring over strange books. His chamber, it is said, was full of -strange instruments, liquids and retorts, and as he laboured with these -in solitude the castle would be filled with strange odours, which -suggested the bottomless pit. At times as the night wind howled round -the turrets of the castle his voice might be heard in the intervals of -the blast summoning spirits from the unseen world, and as they came in -clouds obedient to his bidding their voices were heard above the beating -of the waves on the rocks beneath and the howling of the blast in the -turrets. He was regarded by the people as a white witch, whilst the -witch of Fraddam was a black witch and his antithesis. His spells were -more powerful than hers, and he at last drove her to sea in a coffin -from Germoe Churchyard, in which, as in a canoe, she could be seen on -stormy nights riding over the waves round Pengersick Head, her wild, -shrill shrieks of unholy laughter being carried on the storm-wind. - -The beautiful lady of Pengersick rarely ventured from the castle; and in -summer time, it was said, she would sit for hours with her casement open -to the sea, like a true Eastern lady, singing to the accompaniment of -her harp the softest, sweetest songs. At times fits of unutterable gloom -would settle down on the soul of her lord, and as David with his harp -lifted the darkness from the soul of Saul, so this fair lady would -soothe to rest the weary spirit of her lord. Years drifted on, bringing -but little change, till one day there came a swarthy stranger of gloomy -and forbidding mien to Marazion, where he took up his abode. The -fishermen would see him sometimes as the night closed in sitting on the -rocks overhanging the sea round Pengersick; or cottars would see him in -the twilight wandering over the uplands. The lord of Pengersick went no -more forth abroad, and a nameless dread seemed to have settled down on -him and his lady. At last in the blackness of one awful night, in the -midst of a terrible tempest that had risen up out of the Atlantic, a -blaze of light shot up from the turrets of Pengersick Castle; and in the -morning a blackened heap of ruins alone marked the spot where it had -stood, and the lord of Pengersick and his lady, and their Eastern -servants and his beautiful steed, and the mysterious stranger of dark -and awful mien were never heard of more. - -Of course, it is difficult to collect the sediment of truth at the -bottom of the foregoing legend. Perhaps we may conclude that some lord -of Pengersick, whose old age was not accompanied by the proverbial -wisdom of that state, as not infrequently happens, had fallen under the -spell of a mercenary Delilah, and that in his infatuation he had allowed -his son to be kidnapped by a gang of sea ruffians and carried abroad -like Joseph of old, to be added to the hordes of Christian slaves that -in those days dragged out a dismal existence at Tunis or Algiers. The -spiriting away of the heir would thus leave the field open for the -cherished plans and hopes of Delilah. History has a knack of repeating -itself, and more slaves have risen to power and influence in the land of -their bondage than the patriarch Joseph. Possibly the conscience of the -heir of Pengersick was more elastic than that of many of his fellows, -and he found it possible to recite the "_fateheh_" of Islam with -reverence and _empressement_. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries -there were many Christian renegades holding high positions in the -service of the Mohammedan Powers of the Mediterranean--some of them -Englishmen. Perhaps this may have been the career of the heir of -Pengersick, ending in a return to his native land with riches, a bride -of the daughters of Islam, and an Arab steed. We may well ascribe -the skin disease of his wicked stepmother to leprosy--then very -common--rather than to the fumes of the witch's caldron. Adopting this -rationalised interpretation of the legend, it is but natural to conclude -that one who could thus readily exchange the creed for the "_fateheh_" -had no deep inward convictions, and men without deep convictions are -ever prone to embark upon the sea of speculation, and pursue such -philosophic phantoms as the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone; -hence perhaps the strange instruments and the odours of the bottomless -pit with which his name in tradition is associated. - -Mr. Botterell, in his "Traditions and Hearth Stories of the West of -Cornwall,"[55] gives a more copious account of this legend of Pengersick -than the one here followed. He states that he heard the legend from the -lips of an elderly man at Gwinear, who had often heard it related in the -days of his youth. The main features of this story are, however, the -same; we have the additional statement in Mr. Botterell's legend that -the old lord of Pengersick had himself in his youth been a soldier of -fortune, and that the wander lust from time immemorial had been -effervescent in the blood of the race. The legend runs that the old lord -in the beginning of his days, as there were no wars at home, had betaken -himself in search of loot and glory "to outlandish countries far away in -the East, to a land inhabited by a people little better than savages, -who instead of tilling the ground or digging for tin, passed the time in -roving from place to place as they had need of fresh pasturage for their -cattle, and that they lived in tents covered with the skins of their -flocks, and that their raiment was made of the same material, and yet -they had rich stores of jewels and gold, which they had obtained by the -plunder of their more settled and industrious neighbours." - -It is said, most probably with truth, that St. Germoe's Chair was -erected by some member of the Pengersick family, possibly as a -peace-offering to Mother Church after some more than usually wild and -lawless deed. The recess in the south chancel wall of Germoe Church, -with its canopy of carved stone now meant to be used as sedilia, most -probably was the tomb of some member of this restless race. This brief -account of the Pengersick family may be closed with the prosaic -statement that one of them represented Helston in Parliament in 1397 and -again in 1406. - -The manor of Pengersick in the reign of Henry VIII. passed by purchase -to the family of Militon. The Militons descended from a daughter of the -Pengersicks[56] it is interesting to note. According to Leland, Job -Militon, the purchaser, came from Devonshire. On his arrival at -Pengersick he set about building the present crumbling grey tower, which -though sadly shorn of its former splendours dominates the valley. Hals, -whose veracity is much open to doubt, states that Militon had fled to -this remote corner of the world to hide his head and avoid avenging -justice, having imbrued his hands in the blood of a fellow-man. Whether -this deed was done by accident or with intent Hals does not say. It is -more than probable that it was never done at all. The reason for the -fortifying of the house of the Militons is not far to seek: it stands -close to the sea, and the sea in those days was the open highway of all -lawless spirits. Often from the summit of the grey Keep of Pengersick, -in the years that followed its erection, might have been seen the sails -of Barbary corsairs on the bosom of the sea. The crew of the merchantmen -and the lonely fisherman in his little boat were alike eagerly snapped -up by these marauders to swell the growing population of slaves in -Tripoli and Algiers. Under the shadow of night, when the sea was calm -and the landing good, these rovers of the sea would steal inshore in -open boats and surround some sleeping hamlet or farmhouse. The strong -men were carried off to labour as slaves under the hot sun of Africa -till death liberated them from their misery, whilst the portion that -fell to the fair daughter was the listless ennui of the harem. The sea -rovers were not the only danger that would menace the dwellers in -Pengersick Castle in those days; the constant wars in which this country -was embroiled would bring danger also from privateers, the licensed -robbers of the sea. Spanish, French and Dutch men-of-war and privateers, -each in turn would appear in the bay as the centuries drifted on. From -generation to generation, down to the first fifteen years of this -century, Mount's Bay echoed to the hoarse rumble of guns, and the cannon -smoke of ships engaged in deadly conflict drifted over its waters; -whilst numbers of lawless men, smugglers by repute and pirates[57] when -occasion served, dwelt upon its shores. Well might the first Militon -ensconce himself within the fortified walls of his Keep of Pengersick, -considering the condition of the times in which he lived. - -An extract from the State Papers for the year 1526 makes it clear that -the ancient spirit of the wild Pengersicks was by no means absent from -the souls of the Militons. A Portuguese ship had been wrecked at -Gunwalloe and much cargo saved. The cargo was seized by the servants of -Job Militon, second of the name at Pengersick, Thomas St. Aubyn and -William Godolphin; when the unfortunate owner applied to the justices -for redress he was told that such was the custom of the country, and -that no redress of any kind was possible. It may be here mentioned that -Job Militon was ultimately made Governor of St. Michael's Mount after -the ill-starred rebellion of Humphrey Arundell. - -A fragmentary account of the ancient tower, before cruel neglect and -decay had done their fatal work, may be of interest: "On the wainscot of -the upper storey, which is curiously carved and painted, there are -several quaint pieces of poetry, which are now nearly effaced. Beneath -the painting of a blind man carrying a lame man on his back occur the -lines: - - "The lame which lacketh for to go - Is borne upon the blinde's back, - So naturally between them twoo, - The one supplied the other's lack. - The blinde to laime doth lend his might, - The laime to blinde doth yield his sight." - -Under another painting, which represented the constant dripping of water -upon a rock, the following lines are found: - - "What thing is harder than a rock! - What softer than water clear! - Yet will the same with often drop - The hard rock pierce, as doth appear. - Even so nothing so hard to attayne, - But may be had with labour and payne." - -Other inscriptions and paintings in this ancient stronghold illustrated -the blessedness of loyalty to the Sovereign and the happiness of the -kingdom that is served by faithful and patriotic Ministers; another the -sacredness of the ties of marriage; and yet another, under the -representation of an ass laden with dainties and feeding upon thistles, -the folly of the miser, who denies himself the necessaries of life and -lays up store for others to wanton upon. - -We can only deplore the spirit of neglect in generations that are gone -that allowed this heritage of a former age to crumble and waste away by -wind and rain and vandal hands. But for Dr. Borlase we should have never -known of the former existence of the ancient frescos and their message -of homely philosophy and truth. - -A feature of Pengersick Tower is the numerous loopholes for the -discharge of arrows upon besiegers, and also the elaborate arrangement -for pouring boiling pitch or lead upon assailants attacking the doors. - -The race of Militon did not long continue owners of Pengersick. Job -Militon, son of the purchaser, was succeeded by his son William Militon, -who died without issue, leaving his inheritance to be divided amongst -his six sisters; the estate thus ultimately passed through the female -line to the Godolphins and the Bullers. - -Another ancient family owning considerable estates in the parish were -the Sparnons, of Sparnon and Pengelly. They seem to have held their -estates at any rate from the fifteenth century, if not earlier. We find -from the Church registers that at the meridian of their prosperity they -made alliances both with the Godolphins and the Arundells. The outlines -of the ancient home of the Sparnons at Sparnon, under the shadow of the -eastern end of Tregoning Hill, may still be traced. The Sparnons -ultimately built themselves a larger house on higher ground at Pengelly, -part of which still exists, serving as a farm house. In our Church and -churchyard several of the memorials of the Sparnons still survive. Their -estates were purchased in the eighteenth century by Mr. Justice Buller, -and are still held by his descendant, the present Lord Churston. The -Carter family settled in America, who in recent years have been such -generous benefactors to Breage Church, descend on the female side from -the Sparnons. It is pleasant to realise how frequently the offshoots of -old families renew themselves in new lands, sending forth vigorous -shoots to carry on old traditions and ideals of service and usefulness. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[51] For the history of the Manor of Methleigh I am indebted to the Rev. -T. Taylor, of St. Just. - -[52] See Vivian's "Visitations of Cornwall," Lyson's "Cornwall," etc., -etc. - -[53] Other powerful branches of the Arundell family were settled at -Trerice, Mandarva and Tremoderet, in the Parish of Duloe. - -[54] See Lyson's "Cornwall." - -[55] Scenal Series, page 251. - -[56] See a paper by the Rev. T. Taylor on "The Bevilles of Drennick and -Woolstan," No. LIV. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. - -[57] State Papers. - - - - -Worthies and Unworthies. - -_Harry Carter_, _John Carter, "King of Prussia"_; _Smuggling Ways and -Days_; _William Lemon_, _Captain Tobias Martin, Poet_, _Joseph Boaden, -Mathematician_. - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -Harry Carter, smuggler, privateer and revivalist, was born on a small -farm at Pengersick in 1749. His father, who was a miner by trade, eked -out a livelihood, with the assistance of his sons and daughters, in -farming a small plot of ground. Harry Carter tells us in his memoirs[58] -that he was one of a family of eight sons and two daughters; that his -eldest and youngest brothers received some scanty education at Germoe -School, but that he and the rest of his family received no education -beyond some crude home lessons in reading, given through the medium of -the Bible. The problem of daily bread in the household of his parents -was of much too pressing a nature to allow more than this in the way of -education. As soon as strength permitted, the children had to go forth -to work in the fields or the mines, that each might bring his share of -daily bread to the common store. Though life was thus hard, the -principles of religion were not neglected in the home, the children -being taught to recite some prayers "after they were in bed" and to -attend when possible the services at Germoe Church. His youth coincided -with the strange stirrings in the religious life of the people brought -about by the not infrequent peregrinations of John Wesley through the -district. When Harry was eight years of age the soul of his brother -Francis was touched at one of those wild scenes of religious -revivalism, and as the two brothers slept together, the little lad of -eight became strangely impressed and awed by the change in the demeanour -of his brother. He tells us, however, that these impressions of awe -gradually faded out of his youthful mind. At ten he was sent to work at -the mines on the surface, and he continued there for seven years, when -he went to join his elder brothers in a more adventurous and stirring -life upon which they had entered at Porthleah, soon to change its name -to Prussia Cove. - -Before we proceed further with the story of Harry Carter, it may be well -to say something about Porthleah, so soon to become famous as a -smugglers' haunt. Between Cudden Point on the west and Enys Point on the -south lie three little coves. The one nearest to Cudden Point is called -Pixies' Cove. This cove is too rocky and exposed to be used as a -harbour, but its precipitous sides are riddled with caves suitable for -the smugglers' trade. Next to Pixies' Cove comes Bessie's Cove, called -after a wild character, Bessie Burrows, who there kept the Kiddlewink -Inn, a famous rendezvous of the smugglers plying their lawless trade -along the coast. Bessie's Cove is altogether hidden from view till the -edge of the cliffs are reached which form its precipitous sides. A -rugged road leads up the face of the cliff from Bessie's Cove, and at -certain points in the ascent caves open into the recesses of the rocks. -To the east of Bessie's Cove lies Porthleah, now known as Prussia Cove. -The name Prussia Cove came to be given to it from John Carter, the elder -brother of Harry, who soon came to be the acknowledged head of all the -smuggling fraternity along the coast. In his youth John Carter had been -the leader of his fellows in all boyish games, and stories of the great -Frederick, King of Prussia, having penetrated to the remote West of -Cornwall, had so fascinated the mind of this adventurous lad that he -dubbed himself King of Prussia. This name not only stuck to him for the -rest of his life, but it has stuck ever since to the little territory of -Porthleah over which he ruled with an iron hand. - -The occupation of the Carter brothers at Prussia Cove was nominally that -of peaceful fishermen, but in reality that of daring smugglers. From -this quiet and secluded nook in the coast Harry Carter began his career -by making several voyages as supercargo of contraband in Folkestone and -Irish luggers. Like so many men of his time and country anxious to -make their way in the world, Harry Carter lost no opportunity of -self-education, and rapidly made himself proficient in a rude system of -accounts. At twenty-five he found himself in command of a small sloop of -sixteen or eighteen tons and a crew of two men, busily engaged in the -exciting trade of importer of contraband goods. The sun shone upon his -illegal efforts, and so great was his success that he soon succeeded in -making himself master of a sloop of thirty-two tons; but his vaulting -ambition aspired to still greater things, and the success that fortune -so often extends to new and inexperienced players was still his. The -sloop of thirty-two tons was quickly exchanged for one of fifty tons and -a crew of ten men; and this in its turn soon gave place to a -heavily-armed cutter of sixteen guns and a crew of thirty-two men. At -this time there seemed no cloud on his horizon, save gloomy religious -thoughts that came welling up in his heart. He was greatly troubled -about the sin of swearing and his lack of assurance that he was a "saved -man," but not a whit about the dishonest and lawless nature of his -calling. Having obtained from Government a licence to sail as a -privateer in the American War, and with strict injunctions to his crew -against all swearing on board, he set sail in December, 1777, in search -of adventures and profit on a wider and more extensive scale; but his -star was no longer in the ascendant, and the favours of fickle fortune -were to be denied him for many a long year. Off the French coast his -bowsprit was carried away, and he put into St. Malo for repairs, little -recking of the momentous transpirings since he had sailed from Penzance -Bay; for France had entered into alliance with the revolted American -colonies, and was now at war with England. Carter thus sailed his -heavily-armed cutter into a trap, out of which there was no escape. He -and his men were made prisoners, and his ship and all that she contained -became a French prize of war. "The King of Prussia," who happened to be -on "business" at this time in the Channel Islands, hastened to his -rescue, and attempted to explain matters to his captors. The attempt was -a foolish one, and he soon found himself locked up with his brother -Harry and the crew of the cutter in a French prison. Their captivity -proved a hard and tedious one, but like the men of resource and purpose -that they were, they at once set to work to make the best of their -situation by learning the French language, whilst Harry, in addition, -beguiled the ennui of his captivity by the study of navigation, which in -after years served him in good stead. The two brothers did not obtain -their liberty until after a captivity of two years, when freedom came to -them in an exchange of prisoners. - -Harry Carter on his return home refitted his old fifty-ton cutter and -made several successful smuggling runs. One of these runs was attended -with unpleasant consequences, which nearly proved disastrous. He had -sailed to deliver a contraband cargo in South Wales; on reaching the -Welsh coast he left his cutter lying off the Mumbles whilst he landed to -make final arrangements about running the cargo. In his absence the -cutter was mistaken by a cruiser for one of the Dunkirk privateers, -which at this time were haunting the Welsh coast like birds of prey, -snapping up vessels engaged in the coasting trade. These privateers were -for the most part commanded and manned, Carter tells us, by Irishmen. -The crew of the cutter, seeing the cruiser bearing down upon them, put -out to sea to save their cargo of contraband, and soon succeeded in -eluding the cruiser by superior speed. On giving up the chase the -cruiser sent a boat on shore, and Carter was arrested as the captain of -the Irish pirate. The matter ended in his being detained on suspicion -for twelve weeks, and his ultimate liberation was only brought about by -the representations of his Cornish friends to the Admiralty. With the -exception of this slight overclouding of his horizon, things still -continued for some time to prosper with him. On his return home he -informs us that "he rode about the country getting freights and -collecting money for the 'company.'" Indeed, things continued for some -time to prosper so well with the "company" that soon another large -cutter of one hundred and sixty tons, and carrying nineteen guns, was -purchased by them, whilst they gave orders for the building of a lugger -mounting twenty guns. These two vessels when fitted out sailed, under -the supreme command of Harry Carter, on voyages of illicit merchandise. -No wonder, under the circumstances, Harry Carter began to fancy himself -again, as he tells us in his memoirs; but there was, alas! a fly in the -ointment. In the pride of his prosperity and self-satisfaction swear -words began continually to slip out of his lips; this weighed at times -heavily on his soul and plunged him in deep spiritual gloom. It was -evidently words and not deeds that counted in this man's creed. - -His relations with the collector of Customs and preventive officers seem -to have been of the most friendly character, and herein lay most -probably the secret of his success as a smuggler; indeed, the friendship -of Carter with these officials helps us to understand the cause of the -extreme prosperity of the smuggling industry along the Cornish coast at -this period. In December, 1780, Harry Carter was lying in Newlyn Road -aboard his cutter, with her consort the lugger alongside, when a -messenger came from his friend the collector of Customs, saying that a -Dunkirk privateer, called the Black Prince, and bearing a terrible -reputation, was off St. Ives, committing many depredations upon the -local shipping. The collector concluded his message by asking him to -capture the privateer and so end the reign of terror along the coast. -This duty was not at all to Harry Carter's liking; but, considering his -business, it was a dangerous thing to displease the collector of -Customs, and so with not a few qualms he set out upon the dangerous -enterprise of actual warfare. He put round to St. Ives with his two -vessels, and anchored off that town. On Christmas Day, in the morning, -the redoubtable Black Prince hove in sight, and Carter sailed out of St. -Ives Bay with his two ships to engage her. The Black Prince immediately -put about and made for the open sea, a running fight ensuing between -pursuers and pursued. The lugger in the pursuit soon received a fatal -shot, which caused her to rapidly fill and sink with all hands on board. -In the meantime Carter, having had his jib carried away by a shot and -another planted in his hull, thought it high time to abandon the pursuit -of the Black Prince; he was thus able to bear up and rescue seventeen of -the lugger's crew of thirty-one, but the rest found a watery grave. -Carter tells us: "Before we came up with the privateer, in expecting to -come to an engagement, oh! what horror was on my mind for fear of death! -as I knew I must come to judgment sure and 'sartin.' I feared if I died -I should be lost for ever. Notwithstanding all this I made the greatest -outward show of bravery, and through pride and presumption exposed -myself to the greatest danger. I stood on the companion until the wad of -the enemy's shot flew in fire about me, and I suppose the wind of the -shot struck me down on the deck, as the shot took in the mainsail right -in a line with me. One of my officers helped me up and thought I was -wounded, and he would suffer me to go there no more." - -In 1786 Carter married Elizabeth Flindel, of Helford, and in the -following year was born his only child, Elizabeth Carter. In January, -1788, happened the great disaster of his life. In attempting to land a -cargo of smuggled goods in Cawsand Bay, he was surprised by boats sent -off by a man-of-war. He and his crew attempted to offer an armed -resistance; the cutter was quickly boarded by the boat's crew, and -Carter himself received a severe cutlass wound upon the head and was -left lying upon the deck of his ship for dead. He was able to retain -consciousness all the time, and when unobserved, with great difficulty, -he managed to plunge into the water. Luckily he was seen by sympathisers -on the shore, who only succeeded with great difficulty, on account of -his wounded and exhausted condition, in bringing him safely to land. -This adventure was to cost Carter dear, and it proved the culminating -point in his career; henceforth the sun of good fortune only shone upon -his path in fitful and watery gleams. In spite of the serious wound from -which he was suffering, his friends managed in two days to bring him to -the house of his brother Charles at Kenneggie, in Breage; there he and -his friends soon learnt the disquieting intelligence that the Government -had offered a reward of £300 for his capture. It was now necessary for -Carter, in order to avoid arrest, to be removed by night to Marazion. -Soon the scent became too strong, and he again had to be removed in the -dead of night to Acton Castle, then only occupied in the summer months -by its owner, Mr. Stackhouse Pendarves. The land attached to this house -was farmed by the "King of Prussia," who kept the keys of the house in -the absence of the family. In this deserted mansion the wounded man had -to lie in solitude for many weary months. It is said that the doctor who -attended him in this retreat was brought blindfolded by night, and that -on one occasion Carter only eluded justice by hastily assuming the garb -of a woman. In this lonely refuge his disposition at once manifested its -gloomy morbidity and intense practicalness: much time seems to have -been profitably spent in the study of navigation, and much wasted upon -hypochondriacal maunderings upon the condition of his soul, his -occasional proclivity for swear words and lack of assurance as to his -state of salvation. When his wounds healed he used to steal out of his -lair at night to Prussia Cove, returning ere the dawn. On one of these -occasions, as he returned he moralised on the singing of the birds in -the dawn "answering the end for which they were sent into the world, so -that I wished I had been a toad or a serpent or anything, so that I had -no soul. Likewise there was a grey thrush which sang to me night and -morning, which have preached to me many a sermon." - -The sermons of this bird, like many other sermons, seem to have produced -no practical effect upon Carter's life. His mind was utterly -untroubled so far as the lawlessness of his life was concerned, or the -questionableness of many of his deeds; indeed, he made careful -preparation for continuance in lawless courses by the study of -navigation. - -In the autumn his wife was seized with rapid consumption, and he paid a -pathetic farewell visit to her under the shadow of night at Helford, -whither she had gone with her little girl to be with her parents. He -returned lonely and broken-hearted to his refuge at Acton Castle a -little before the dawn, overwhelmed with the thought that he would see -his wife no more and that he was a ruined and broken man. - -On the 24th October, 1788, he was able to obtain a passage to Leghorn on -board the George, a ship sailing from Penzance. From Leghorn he -succeeded in obtaining a passage to New York, where he became reduced to -a condition of extreme poverty, having for a bare pittance to work side -by side in the fields with negro slaves. After many hardships he -determined to brave the terrors of the law and venture back once more -to England. He worked his way back under the American flag, and narrowly -escaped the attentions of the Press Gang in the English Channel. On his -arrival in England he soon found that his native soil was still too hot -for his feet. Under the circumstances he crossed over to Roscoff, on the -French coast, the then capital of the Channel smuggling trade, where he -became the local agent of his brothers. But events moved rapidly in -France under the Revolution. During the Terror, with many other English, -he was arrested and remained under detention for over two years. With -the fall of Robespierre he and his other English fellow-prisoners were -set at liberty. This smuggling Ulysses brought his wanderings to an end -on the 22nd August, 1795. He disembarked on that day at Falmouth, he -tells us, "at three o'clock in the afternoon, where I met my dear little -Bessie, then between eight and nine years old." The following day -happened to be Sunday, and he at an early hour set out for his native -place, reaching Breage a little before eleven o'clock, and meeting his -brother Frank on his way to church. - -Harry Carter settled at Rinsey, became a farmer, and continued to reside -there until the day of his death in April, 1829. - -John Carter, known as "The King of Prussia," plays a much larger part in -local tradition than his brother Harry, though on Harry fell the more -onerous and dangerous part of facing the perils of the sea and of -hostile shores in pursuit of the smuggler's calling. In those days and -for long after the wild doings of Prussia Cove would be on everyone's -lips; the doings on the lonely deep had no chronicler to magnify them. -Many are the legends that cling round the name of "The King of Prussia": -some of these Mr. Baring-Gould has placed on record in his book "Cornish -Characters and Strange Events." On one occasion John Carter received a -visit from the Revenue officers, who demanded to make a search of his -entire premises. One door remained padlocked, and this they insisted on -having opened; the key not being forthcoming they wrenched the locks -off, but the cellar thus closed proved to be quite innocent of -contraband. On the following day Carter complained to the Revenue -authorities that his unlocked premises had been rifled during the night, -and demanded restitution for his stolen goods, as the Revenue officers -by their violent action had deprived him of the means of securing his -doors. The story runs that Carter himself had removed his property -during the night, and we are asked to believe the somewhat difficult -statement that the Revenue officers under the circumstances paid him the -value of the property he had never lost. - -On another occasion we are told that the Revenue authorities seized in -the cellars of Carter a valuable cargo of contraband spirits, which -Carter had already made arrangements to supply to his customers amongst -the surrounding gentry, and that on the following night Carter and his -gang broke into the Custom warehouses, seized the contraband of which -they had been deprived, and proceeded to deliver it to those for whom it -had been originally intended. - -His crowning exploit, however, was opening fire with a battery of guns -which he had erected at Prussia Cove, on the boats of the Government -cutter Faery. The Faery was in hot pursuit of a smuggling craft, which -in order to elude her pursuer sailed through a narrow channel between -the Enys rocks and the shore. The Faery, baffled of her prey, lowered -her boats in pursuit, and as these drew into Prussia Cove, Carter opened -fire upon them and beat them off. This seems to have been towards dusk. -Next morning the Faery opened fire from the sea on Carter's shore -battery, whilst mounted troops from Penzance took up their position on -the shore to the rear of his battery, and in turn opened fire upon it. -The smugglers thereupon withdrew to Bessie Burrow's public-house -and prepared for its defence, but received no further attack or -molestation. The whole incident as narrated reveals a strange supineness -on the part of the Customs authorities, which almost suggests connivance -with Carter's delinquencies. - -The action of the authorities in the above case is reminiscent of a -story told to the writer by a parishioner. His grandfather, who occupied -a farmhouse on the coast, was awakened in the dead of night by a band of -smugglers, who asked permission to stow a cargo of spirits, which they -had just landed, in his barn under the straw. He demurred on the ground -that if the cargo were discovered there by the authorities he would be -incriminated, but he expressed willingness for it to be hidden in the -hay ricks, contiguous to the barn. Some days afterwards his father, then -a mere youth, was asked to assist in the disposal of some of the kegs, -and, fearful of refusing, consented. Under cloak of night he set out -with the smuggler, each bearing a keg; the way led over fields and by -many devious paths till he found himself climbing the fence at the end -of the garden of a Preventive officer living in Helston. He remonstrated -with his guide at the madness of endeavouring to secrete contraband -spirits in the garden of an Exciseman. In reply he was told to have no -fear, but to do as he was told; the fence was crossed and the keg was -carried through the garden to the back door of the upholder of the law. -The smuggler without trepidation proceeded to knock, and on the door -being opened the kegs were placed inside without parley of any kind. - -The grim side of the smuggler's calling and the terrible crimes that -sometimes accompanied it are well illustrated by the gruesome find of -another parishioner recently, close to his farmhouse, under the shadow -of Tregoning Hill. The hind leg of one of the horses of this friend, -whilst ploughing in his field, suddenly sank deep into the ground, and -it was with difficulty that the animal was extricated. The spot from -which the horse's foot was withdrawn revealed a cavity in the ground; -spades were brought and excavations made, which ended in bringing to -light a fair-sized subterranean cellar, whose gruesome contents were a -large knife of foreign make, a skull, a few human bones, some -disintegrated patches of clothing and a small handful of silver and -copper coins, one of which, a shilling of the reign of George II., now -lies on the table of the writer. - -From the Carters we turn to a man of a very different type, who made his -way to wealth by sterling integrity and honesty of purpose. William -Lemon was born at Germoe in 1696, and baptized in Breage Church on the -15th November of the same year. He received his education at the village -school, and being a lad of quick intelligence, he became in the first -instance a clerk to a Mr. Coster, connected with the local mining -industry. He distinguished himself when a mere boy on the occasion of a -ship being driven on Praa Sands in the midst of a terrific gale. He and -a party of brave men, who arrived on the scene of the disaster as the -ship was quickly breaking to pieces, formed themselves with great -gallantry into a living chain, extending from the shore into the raging, -angry surf, and so were able to grasp and save the shipwrecked sailors -as they were carried on the waves to the shore. But for these heroic men -thus grasping them they would have been sucked back into the sea and -drowned in the receding waters. Young William Lemon was a lad of -thoughtful and studious disposition, and availed himself of every -opportunity to learn what there was to be learnt of assaying and mine -engineering in the district. Presumably men of education and practical -ability were very scarce in the neighbourhood at this time; at any rate, -whilst little more than a boy he was appointed the manager of -considerable tin smelting works in the neighbourhood of Penzance. At the -age of twenty-eight he married a Miss Isabella Vibart, of Tolver, in -Gulval, a lady of some property. William Lemon was endowed with breadth -of mind and grasp of detail in a marked degree, and the means which his -wife brought him enabled him to bring these faculties into play with the -most successful results. He embarked on prudent and far-sighted mining -speculations, which quickly made him a man of great wealth. He conceived -the idea of working the tin mines on a large scale, and not as hitherto -by small bands or companies of "adventurers," as had been the custom for -some generations. - -Though great wealth came to him comparatively early, his character -continued unchanged and unspoilt, and in the midst of his successes he -continued to utilize his leisure in the study of Latin, and in his -middle-age he had attained to no mean knowledge of that tongue. In the -present age the successful developer of mines and floater of mining -companies, spending his leisure in the study of the classics, would be -indeed regarded as strange, but "_autres temps, autres moeurs_." - -When success came William Lemon settled in Truro. The kindliness of his -character is well illustrated by an incident at this period of his life. -He had trained a pet Cornish chough so well, and so fond had the bird -become of him, that at his call it would leave its fellows and come and -settle on his hand or his head as he walked along. A lad of the Truro -Grammar School, named John Thomas, who afterwards became Warden of the -Stannaries, accidentally killed this tame bird so dear to the heart of -its owner. In fear and trembling he went to the house of Mr. Lemon, and -confessed his crime. The lad's straightforwardness disarmed all -resentment in the heart of this kindly man, who dismissed him with -friendly words, after praising his openness and manliness of character -in confessing his delinquency. - -William Lemon served as High Sheriff of the county, and might have -represented it in Parliament had he so chosen.[59] He ultimately bought -the estate of Carclew, to which place he went to reside in 1749. His -son was created a baronet, and for some years represented Cornwall in -Parliament. This baronetcy became extinct in the succeeding generation. - -A friend has shewn the writer some letters of William Lemon, which -reveal him as an affectionate and dutiful son to his aged mother, and -kindly and solicitous for the welfare of all the members of his family. -I venture to transcribe one of these letters, written to his brother at -Germoe, who had been ailing for some time. It reveals a touching faith -in the efficacy of alcohol as a restorer of the vigour of the human -system, which the world has now lost, and also gives a quaint picture of -a bygone age and generation. - -The letter is as follows:-- - - "Truro, 28th September, 1748. - - "Dear Brother, - - I was much concerned to hear of the illness of you and your family, - and consequently had great satisfaction in hearing of your being - recovered. To comfort and recruit you, I have ordered to be brought - you by this bearer four dozen bottles of wine, of different sorts, - as mentioned on the other side, which I hope you will make use of - with moderation. I cannot omit again pressing you to have - particular attention to the education of your children. It will be - surprising should you neglect this, seeing I have offered to - contribute so much towards it. My good wishes attend you and your - whole family, and I am - - Your affectionate brother, - William Lemon." - - "Bottles--4 Tent - " 4 Canary - " 12 Mountain - " 28 Port - ------------ - 48 Bottles." - ============ - - -It would not be right in a chapter dealing with the worthies and -unworthies of Breage, who have stamped their memories beyond their -fellows upon the local annals, to omit the name of "Captain" Tobias -Martin. Although he was not actually a native of the parish of Breage, a -great portion of his life was passed in the parish as captain of Wheal -Vor Mine. He was born in the parish of Wendron on 5th January, 1747. His -childish years, on account of the poverty of his father, a working -miner, seem to have been practically destitute of all school education. -Indeed, when we examine beneath the surface we find that a century ago -in Western Cornwall school education of any kind seems to have stopped -short with the children of the more well-to-do farmers. Young Tobias -Martin, however, had inherited from his father an active and vigorous -mind, which quickly set itself to grapple with the adverse circumstances -of his surroundings. From a very early age he began to utilise all his -spare time for the purpose of self-education, and in spite of long hours -spent as a working miner, managed amongst other things to acquire a fair -knowledge of Latin and written French. His father, in spite of the hard -circumstances of his life, had possessed a genuine thirst for knowledge -and information of all kinds, and tenderly preserved a few tattered and -meagre volumes as a fountain of light and inspiration. He also possessed -the faculty inherited by his son of stringing jingling rhymes together, -which he regarded as endowed with the fire of genius. In his later years -the father of Tobias Martin, on account of his integrity and superior -education, was promoted by his employers to the post of mine captain. - -The life of Tobias Martin practically followed the course of that of his -father. After working for a number of years as an ordinary miner, his -superior education and gifts came to be recognised by a Mr. Sandys, of -Helston, interested in the local mines, and his advancement quickly -followed. Tobias Martin died, aged 81, on 9th April, 1828, and was laid -to rest in Breage Churchyard. The later years of his life were clouded -by false accusations and unjust claims, which led for a time to his -confinement in the Sheriff's Ward at Bodmin. His character was -ultimately completely vindicated by the efforts of Mr. Richard Tyacke, -of Godolphin. Hard upon this trouble followed the brutal murder of his -eldest son in America, which darkened the few remaining years of the old -man's life. - -The poems of Tobias Martin were first published in Helston in 1831; a -second edition followed in 1856, and a third in 1885. The poems suggest -the mental attitude of an eighteenth century Cornish Piers Ploughman; -running through them there is a vein of deep resentment at the tyranny -and oppression of the ruling classes, and the lethargy, pride, -hard-heartedness and laxity of the clergy is touched upon with no light -hand. His verses as poetry are utterly valueless, but as garish pictures -of a day that is passed they will always be interesting, if somewhat -painful reading. Martin by his contemporaries was called an atheist. -Judging by his poems, I imagine that he had thought perhaps a little -more than his accusers, who most probably had never thought at all on -the deeper things of life; his soul no doubt was in revolt against the -dead shibboleths and formalism of the age, with which men were -attempting to compound for the brutality and coarseness of their lives. -One looks in vain through Martin's poems for one thought of poetic -beauty or discernment. - -Perhaps the following story of Martin, given by Mr. Baring Gould,[60] -will suggest a picture of the man and his communications. It is fair to -add that whilst the following story reveals him as a merry fellow, many -of his poems reveal in him a strain of plaintive melancholy. - -Captain Toby was having his pint of ale at a tavern, when in comes a -miner who was wont to be called "Old Blowhard," and was not esteemed -trusty or diligent as a workman. - -"How are 'ee, Capp'n?" - -"Clever, how art thee?" - -"Purty well for health," says Bill, "but I want a job. Can 'ee give us -waun ovver to yur new bal?" - -"No, we're full," replied Captain Toby. - -"How many men have 'ee goat ovver theere?" asked old Bill Blowhard. - -"How many? Why we've two sinking a air-shaft through the flockan, and -two to taackle, and that's fower; and theere's two men in the oddit, and -a booay to car tools and that, and that makes three moore, and that -altogether es seben." - -"And how many cappuns have 'ee goat?" said Bill. - -"How many? Why ten." - -"What! Ten cappuns to watch ovver seben men? I doant b'lieve you can -maake that out, for the venturers wouldn't stand it." - -"Tes zackly so then, and I'll make it out to 'ee in a moment. Waun -cappun es 'nough we oal knaw, but at the last mittin the 'venturers -purposed to have waun of the 'venturers sons maade a cappun, and to -larn, they said; and so a draaper's son called Sems, was put weth me -from school, at six pounds a month and a shaare of what we had in the -'count-house." - -"Well, but how can 'ee maake ten of you and he?" - -"Why I'll tell'ee how, and you mind nother time Bill, for theere's -somethin' of scholarin' in ut. Now see this. I myself am waun, baent I?" - -"Iss sure," said Bill. - -"Well, and theest aught ta knaw that young Sems is nawthin'; well when -theest ben to school so long as I have, theest knaw that waun with a -nought attached to un do maake ten, and so 'tes zackly like that." - -I venture to give one specimen of Tobias Martin's poetry. - - "Awake, my soul! the night is past, - The day begins to dawn, - With eager footsteps let me haste - To meet the rising sun. - - "But first to heaven's exalted throne - A tribute let me pay, - To Him who hath His mercies shewn, - And sent another day. - - "To honest labour then inclined - I'll hasten to the spot, - With cheerful and contented mind, - Where heaven hath cast my lot. - - "And there let me my daily task - With busy hands pursue, - And God's assistance humbly ask - In all I have to do. - - "Though some despise my mean estate, - I would not have it said - I spend my time in sloth and hate, - Nor earn my daily bread. - - "While idle wretches pine and starve, - And nothing good will do, - I'll labour on and try to serve - God and my neighbour to." - -It would be unjust not to make mention in concluding this chapter of -Joseph Boaden, who lived his whole life as a small cultivator in the -parish of Breage, and who was laid to rest in Breage Churchyard in -December, 1858. Self-taught, through his life he pursued the study of -higher mathematics and astronomy, and was regarded as a valued -correspondent by Professors Airy and Adams, of Cambridge. Under modern -conditions education has become more diffused, but we look in vain for -men of the type of those whom we have been considering. With its -superficial diffusion knowledge has in a measure lost its prestige and -fascination, and education has been in a sense debased and vulgarised in -the popular mind into a mere instrument of livelihood. The successful -passer of competitive examinations, under the system of cram, with no -true love of knowledge for knowledge's sake in his heart, and who -divests himself of his crapula of potted knowledge the moment a -livelihood with a pension at the end has been attained, has already gone -far to cast learning, so far as the popular mind is concerned, into the -quagmire of contempt. - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[58] "The Autobiography of a Smuggler," published by Messrs. Pollard, of -Truro, 1894. - -[59] See Mr. Baring-Gould's "Cornish Characters and Strange Events" for -many of the factors as given above. - -[60] "Cornish Characters and Strange Events." - - - - -Local Place Names and Superstitions. - -CHAPTER IX. - - -It has been said that the history of England is written in the names of -her fields and enclosures. Certain it is that in almost every parish, if -the names of the fields be gone over, some name of exceeding interest or -curiousness will be discovered, embalming some long-forgotten fact or -tradition. There are in the parish of Breage two fields called "The -Sentry"; this name is of course obviously a corruption of the word -"sanctuary." These two sanctuary fields are at opposite ends of the -parish; one forms the site of the main shaft of Wheal Vor Mine, and the -other is in the Kenneggie district. Their situation thus lends force to -a suggestion that they may in remote times have been actually used as -local sanctuaries.[61] The probability of this seems to be increased by -the fact that a field contiguous to the Kenneggie sanctuary field, is -called the Church Close. Possibly in ancient days in the Church Close -there stood a sanctuary chapel, whose story has long since faded into -the mists of oblivion. Originally every church and churchyard was a -sanctuary for criminals. The sanctuary seats at Hexham Abbey and -Beverley Minster and the sanctuary knocker in Durham Cathedral are still -in existence. A person who had committed murder or other heinous crime -was safe if he could reach a sanctuary before he was waylaid and -arrested; once within the sanctuary, if in forty days he confessed his -crime and took a solemn oath before the coroner to depart from the -country and never return again, he was allowed to go unmolested into -exile. Possibly our two local sanctuaries may have been thus used in -Celtic times. Had they continued to be used as such in later times, it -is probable that some record of this use would have survived. - -Two fields in the parish possess the gruesome name of "Park Blood." -Certain local antiquaries have drawn the conclusion that the numerous -fields of Blood dotted over West Cornwall commemorate the sites of -desperate tribal struggles. It seems much more probable and reasonable, -however, that "Park Blood"[62] is merely the corruption of the ancient -Cornish for "Field of Flowers." This derivation, it is fair to add, -seems in keeping with a number of other local names of fields, as "Eye -Bright Field," "Bramble Field," "Furzy Croft Field," etc. - -Another field of somewhat gruesome name is "Venton Ghost." Mr. Jenner -suggests that this name may be a corruption of "Well of Blood," a title -which may well have been due to the red waters of a chalybeate spring. - -From a field whose name naturally suggests at a first sight ghosts and -hauntings, we pass naturally to a field which bears the portentous name -of "Wizard's Plot"; alas! all memory of the wizard who once probably -dwelt on this spot, and practised his spells and necromancy there, has -long since faded into oblivion. - -It would be interesting to know how a field on Methleigh Farm obtained -the name of "The Martyr's Close." As to who these martyrs were tradition -can give no light. It is possible that the name may commemorate one of -the many acts of ferocity committed in the name of religion in the days -of the "Saints," when slight religious differences were ample -justification for any form of homicide, or it may have had, as seems -more probable to the writer, some connection with the story of the -unfortunate men whose skeletons, bearing upon them the unmistakable -traces of violent death, were discovered lying in a shallow grave -beneath the site of the pulpit in Breage Church. If this latter theory -be accepted it seems probable that the field earned its present name -through some act of military reprisal during the Parliamentary Wars. - -In the Germoe district there is a field called "Bargest Croft." At first -sight "Bargest" suggests a corruption of "Bargheist,"[63] the Teutonic -and Scandinavian animal spectre, whose apparitions play such a large -part in the folklore of the North of England. The resemblance in the -words, however, is only superficial, "Bargest" evidently being a -corruption of "Bargas," a kite, which is a more or less common form in -compound local place names. - -Turning from place names which have been culled in the main from the -tithe map to the parish tithe itself. Probably our tithe with other -Cornish tithe came first to be paid in Celtic times, not through any -force of law, but gradually by custom, each owner of land making what -was deemed a fitting payment for the maintenance of the bishop and -clergy of the diocese and possibly to some extent for the relief of the -poor. As in so many other instances long custom came gradually to obtain -the force of legal enactment and the payment of tithe to become legally -binding. When Churches were built at Breage and Germoe, our local tithe -instead of going to the support of the clergy of the diocese generally, -would pass to the special use of the clergy of Breage and Germoe; the -right of appointing such clergy passing also by custom, it seems more -than probable, to the builders of the Churches and their heirs. - -When we deal with the fast fading superstitions of the district, it is -interesting to note the extreme frequency in local folklore of -superstitions exactly parallel to the Northern superstition of the -Bargheist. At no very distant time, judging from the accounts of the -aged, the majority of the lanes, roads and lonely places of the district -were inhabited by spectral animals. The Board School master, however, -has been allowing them no close time, and they soon will be as extinct -as the mammoth, the cave bear, or the woolly haired rhinoceros. It is -considered unlucky locally to behold these spectral animals, just as in -the Northern superstitions the appearance of the Bargheist denotes -disaster to the beholder. A flock of phantom sheep on the main road have -not yet been quite exterminated, and their pitter-patter on wild, stormy -nights may still be heard by the belated wayfarer, whilst a little -further on, closely contiguous to the main road, it is said a phantom -"passun" may still be seen; also certain houses have been pointed out to -the writer as having been terribly troubled with "sperruts." - -The great enemy of "sperruts" and spectres of all kinds in his day was -the Reverend Robert Jago,[64] Vicar of Wendron, at the end of the -seventeenth century. The dim traditions of his doughty feats in warring -with spectres still vaguely linger, in a condition varying towards -evanescence, in the popular mind. A lane leading up from the village of -Herland Cross to Pengilly Farm still bears the name of Jew's Lane. In -this lane a Jew had hanged himself in rage or despair after some outrage -or wrong committed upon him by the Squire Sparnon of that day. Not long -after the Jew's suicide the lane was rendered impassable at night by -horrible sounds and sights, and recourse was had to the Reverend Robert -Jago, who received a fee of five guineas for the business of laying the -troublesome ghost. The method of Mr. Jago seems to have been first to -draw a circle with a long whiplash upon the ground, whilst repeating -certain formulæ and prayers. Having placed himself within the circle, he -was safe from the anger of malignant spirits, and was thus able to -summon the troubled spirit and banish it from the neighbourhood without -danger to himself. - -Mr. Wentz, in his "Faery Faith of Celtic Countries," gives the -following story, taken from the lips of an aged man--John Wilmet, of -Constantine--having reference to Parson Jago and the traditions of -ghost-laying that still linger round his name: "A farmer who once lived -near the Gweek River called Parson Jago to his house to have him quiet -the ghosts and spirits regularly haunting it, for Parson Jago could -always put such things to rest. The parson went to the farmer's house, -and with his whip formed a circle on the floor, and demanded the spirit, -which made its appearance on the table, to come down into the circle. -Whilst on the table the spirit was visible to all the family, but as -soon as it got into the ring it disappeared and the house was never -troubled afterwards." - -John Wilmet had also much to tell Mr. Wentz about the piskies or pobol -vean that he heard, but did not see, at Bosahn. It is round the piskies, -indeed, that the great mass of Cornish folk beliefs cling. Sixty or -seventy years ago this belief seems to have been all but universal -amongst the country people, and though now fast dying, is by no means -extinct. Indeed, a churchwarden of many years standing recently dated a -certain event by the winter in which he had been piskie "led." It seems -on this occasion when leaving the market town he had taken the wrong -turning and walked on rapidly till in the end he found himself more than -twelve miles from home. Another Cornishman informed the writer that one -night, thinking something was disturbing some of his cattle, he went out -into his field to see what was the matter; when he endeavoured to return -to the house, owing to the piskies he could not find the gate again, and -had to spend several weary hours wandering round and round the hedges -in a vain and exasperating search in rain and darkness, at one time -floundering in a nettle bed, at another in mud and water over the tops -of his boots. - -An aged woman, Mrs. Harriet Christoper, informed Mr. Wentz, that a woman -who lived near Breage Church had a fine baby, and she thought the -piskies came and took it and put a withered child in its place. The -withered child lived to be twenty years old, and was no larger when it -died than when the piskies brought it. The parents believed that the -piskies often used to come and look over the wall by the house to see -the child, and she had heard her grandmother say that the family once -put the child out of doors at night to see if the piskies would take it -back again. The piskies are said to be very small, and you could never -see them by day. She used to hear her grandmother, who had been dead -fifty years, say that the piskies used to hold a fair in the fields near -Breage, and that the people saw them dancing. She also remembered her -grandmother saying that it was customary to set out food for the piskies -at night. - -Mr. Hunt, in his popular "Romances of the West of England," tells us -that Bal Lane in Germoe was a famous haunt of the fairies in old time, -and that at certain seasons of the year they held a great fair there. - -The fairy folk in local superstitions seem to have been divided into -three species--the piskies, fairies of the moors, dells and surface of -the earth generally; the knockers or knackers, fairies of the mines, -whom the miners heard knocking in the depths of the earth, indicating by -their knocks the presence of rich veins of ore, or if of a malignant -disposition luring the miners by their knockings to vain efforts after -non-existent mineral wealth. The third order of fairies was that of the -Buccas, an amphibious species, to whom down to recent times offerings of -fish were made. - -It is pleasant to gather from the learned author of "The Faery Faith in -Celtic Countries" that the superstitions of the Cornish are of a much -brighter character than those of the other branches of the Celtic race; -the superstitious beliefs of their near kinsmen, the Bretons, being of a -specially gloomy character. The pobol vean, it seems, are much more -cheery folk, in spite of all their pranks, than gloomy Ankou, king of -the dead, and his attendant ghosts. Having said that the Cornish -folklore is not of a gloomy character is to say perhaps all that can be -said in praise of it. - -I have alluded to the foregoing tales and beliefs because in the course -of a generation or so they will have completely faded from the popular -mind. Our people seem eager to have done with the past, and to reach -forward to the future, fraught with new conditions and new thought. When -we compare the present with the past, we can only be thankful for all -that change has brought within recent generations in physical -surroundings and moral outlook. Let us hope that her future gifts, which -give promise of being prodigal, will be as beneficent as those of the -recent past, for we still require much at her hands. The danger seems to -lie in wandering into a materialistic desert, for it is but too true -that "Man can not live by bread alone." - -[Illustration] - -FOOTNOTES: - -[61] I am aware that the term Sanctuary came to be applied very loosely, -and came to mean sometimes little more than Churchland or even a Tithe -Barn. The Rev. Thomas Taylor, of St. Just, suggests with regard to the -Kenneggie "Church Close" and "Sanctuary" that these fields may have been -fragments of the ancient Manor of Methleigh, which passed from the See -of Exeter to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, who alienated it from the -Church. - -[62] "Park Blood" might be "Park Blod," the field of flowers. "Blodon" -in the 12th century vocabulary is "Flos," and "Blot" is the same as -"farina." In Welsh "blawd" is "flour" and "blodon" "flower." In later -Cornish "blez" is "flour" and "bledzahn" is "flower." There still -survives a dialect word "blouth." - - _Mr. H. Jenner_ - - -[63] Mr. H. Jenner. - -[64] See Daniell's "History of Cornwall." - - - - -INDEX. - - - A. - - Ancient Glass in Breage Church, 52. - - Aneurin, 18. - - Ankou, King of the dead, 154. - - Armada, The, 67. - - Arundell, Benedict de, 45. - - Arundell, Humphrey, 60, 126. - - Arundell, Sir John of Lanherne, 57, 116. - - Arundell, John, Colonel of Horse, 117. - - Arundell, John, Last of the Arundells of Truthal, 117. - - Arundell, Ralph, 116. - - Arundell, Sir Thomas of Tolverne, 116. - - Ashton, 74. - - Athelstan, Saxon King, 27. - - Atwell, Parson and Physician, 75. - - - B. - - Bal Lane, 153. - - Barbary Corsairs, 125. - - Bargest Croft, 150. - - Bargheist, The, 151. - - Barnes, Revd. Jocelyn, Vicar of Breage, 88. - - Bartholomew, Black, 72. - - Bells, Breage, 90, 91. - - Bells, Germoe, 92. - - Bede, The Venerable, 17. - - Berkeley, Sir Charles, 108. - - Berkeley, Dorothy, 107. - - Berkeley, Francis, 108. - - Berkeley, Sir Henry, 107 - - Bery, John, Vicar of Breage, 59, 61. - - Black Death, The, 48, 64. - - Boaden, Jos., 146, 147. - - Bodmin, 48. - - Bordars, 30. - - Boscawen, Hugh, 79. - - Breage Church, 24, 50, 51, 52, 53. - - Breton Saints, 22. - - Briefs, 97, 98. - - Brother Thomas of Hayles, 46. - - Brythons, The, 10, 17, 18. - - Bucca, The, 153. - - Buller, Mr. Justice, 128. - - Burials by Night, 97. - - Buryan, Chapel of, 44. - - Burying-place of Godolphins, 102. - - - C. - - Canons of St. Keverne, 34. - - Carter, Mrs. Cornelia, 90. - - Carter, Harry, 129 to 137. - - Carter, John, "King of Prussia," 137 to 139. - - Carter, Family of, 128. - - Carter, William Thornton, 90. - - Cattle, Cornish, in 17th Century, 75. - - Cecil, Lord Burleigh, 105, 106. - - Celtic Bishops, 26. - - Celtic Churches at Breage and Germoe, 24 to 26, 35. - - Celtic Cross in Breage Churchyard, 24. - - Celtic Method of Consecrating Churches, 23, 26. - - Charles II. at Breage, 70, 71, 106, 109. - - Chammonds, Family of, 115. - - Christianity in Ireland at the End of the 5th Century, 19, 20. - - Church Ales, 77. - - Church Registers, 92 to 99. - - Churchwardens, 98, 99. - - Churches, Built on Sites of Heathen Temples, 25. - - Churston, Lord, 128. - - Chynoweth, 23. - - Clarendon, Earl of, 107. - - Clergy, The Chief Sufferers from Plague, 48. - - Clyes, Rawe, Blacksmith and Physician, 75. - - Cole, John, 105. - - Collegiate System in Saxon Times, 33. - - Coliberts, 33. - - Collins, Revd. E., Vicar of Breage, 82, 92. - - Colonies of the Saints, 26. - - Commissioners of Edward VI., Their Report on the Churches of Breage - and Germoe, 61, 62. - - Communion Plate, Breage and Germoe, 92. - - Conan, The Castle of, 18. - - Coode, Dorcas, of Methleigh, 69. - - Coode, Family of, 69. - - Coode, John, of Methleigh, 70. - - Cornish Bishops, 26. - - Cornish Language, 10. - - Cotton, William, Vicar of Breage, 66, 68, 69. - - Council of Arles, 17. - - Council of Nicæa, 17. - - Crettier, Henry, Vicar of Breage, 57. - - Crowan, 19. - - Cury, 33, 38. - - - D. - - Dawe, Sir Alexander, Vicar of Breage, 63, 64. - - Dean, Matthew, of Buryan, 44. - - Dellaregetto, Wm., 96. - - Diodorus, Siculus, 14. - - Domesday Book, 28, 31. - - Durrow, Book of, 21. - - - E. - - Earldom of Cornwall, 35. - - Earls of Cornwall, 34. - - Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, 42. - - Egbert, Saxon King, 27. - - Eglos Penbroe (Breage), 24. - - Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 65, 106. - - Epsley, Thomas, "The Inventor of Shooting the Rocks," 97. - - Erasmus, Edmundus, 95, 96, 105. - - Essex, Earl of, 106. - - Eusticke, William, Vicar of Breage, 82 to 84. - - - F. - - Fairies, 13, 152 to 154. - - Fight Between Wreckers from Breage and Wendron, 80. - - Flint Implements, 9. - - Fraddam, Witch of, 120 to 122. - - Frederick II. "Stupor Mundi," 48. - - Frescos in Breage Church, 50 to 52, 89. - - Frescos in Pengersick Castle, 127. - - - G. - - Germoe Church, 26, 50, 53, 54. - - Germoe, People of, 79. - - Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, 41. - - Gildas, 18. - - Giraldus, 35. - - Glanville, John, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 105. - - Glasney, Collegiate Church of, 45. - - Glass, Mediæval in Breage Church, 52, 89. - - Gode, Sir John, Vicar of Breage, 58, 101, 103. - - Goidels, The, 10, 18. - - Godolphin, Dame Alice, 105. - - Godolphin, Dame Blanche, 104. - - Godolphin, Catherine, 112. - - Godolphin, Dame Dorothy, 107. - - Godolphin, Elinora, 101. - - Godolphin, Sir Francis I., 67, 73, 95, 104 to 106. - - Godolphin, Sir Francis II., 106, 107, 108. - - Godolphin, Francis, Second Earl of, 113. - - Godolphin, Dr. Henry, Dean of St. Paul's, 93, 107. - - Godolphin, Sir John, 58, 101, 103. - - Godolphin, John, 78. - - Godolphin, Margaret, 110, 111. - - Godolphin, Sidney, First Earl of, 86, 109 to 112. - - Godolphin, Sidney, Cavalier, 107, 108. - - Godolphin, Penelope, 108. - - Godolphin, Sir William I., 103, 104, 126. - - Godolphin, Sir William II., 65, 69, 70, 78, 79, 95, 106. - - Godolphin, Sir William III., 106. - - Godolphin, Sir William IV., 107, 108. - - Godolphin, Sir William of Treveneag, 113. - - Godolphin, Master Thomas, 58. - - Graeme, Hugh, 94, 95. - - Grandisson, Bishop, 46. - - Great Work Mine, 73. - - Greeks, The Ancient, 14. - - Gregory, the Great, 30. - - Gregory IX., Pope, 41. - - Grenfell, Lydia, 85, 86. - - Grotto, Ferrata, 42. - - Guary, Plays, 77. - - Gunwalloe, 33, 38. - - Gwydian, Celtic God of Vegetation, 11. - - - H. - - Hals, County Historian, 37, 101, 125. - - Harvest Customs, 11. - - Harvey, Francis, Vicar of Breage, 65, 66, 68, 82. - - Hayles Abbey, 38, 41, 42, 43, 47, 59, 63. - - Hayle River, 19. - - Helmets in Breage Church, 102. - - Helston, 74. - - Helston Flora, 11. - - Helston Old Church, Commissioner Body Murdered in, 60. - - Hingston Down, 27, 39. - - Hobbs, The Philosopher, 107, 108. - - Horses, Cornish, in 17th Century, 74. - - Human Remains: A Forgotten Tragedy, 53, 89, 90. - - Hurling, Game of, 75. - - Huthnance, Henry, Vicar of Breage, 82. - - - I. - - Ictis, Island of, 14. - - Innes, James, Intruding Puritan Minister at Breage, 72, 82. - - Interdict, The, 40. - - Ireton, General, 107. - - Irish Saints, The, 17, 19, 22. - - Isabella de Clare, 41. - - Ivernians, The, 9, 17. - - - J. - - Jago, Robert, Vicar of Wendron, 151. - - Jago, Family of, 117. - - Jakes, Master John, Vicar of Breage, 59. - - Jews in Cornwall, 42. - - Jew's Lane, Haunting of, 151. - - John de Beaupré, 44. - - John, Earl of Oxford, 56. - - Jordan, William, 77. - - - K. - - Kells, Book of, 21. - - Killigrews of Arwennick, 78. - - Killigrew, John, 105. - - Killigrew, Dame Margaret, 105. - - Kiltor of St. Keverne, 60. - - - L. - - Landerdale, Earl of, 72. - - Leland, The Antiquary, 18, 22, 23, 37, 73. - - Leeds, Dukes of, 88. - - Lemon, William, 140 to 142. - - Leofric, Bishop, 28, 34. - - Lewes, Battle of, 42. - - Llwarch-Hen, 18. - - Lyspein, David de, Vicar of Breage, 45, 46, 57. - - - M. - - MacDonald, Angus, 96. - - Marshall, Revd. Edward, Vicar of Breage, 91, 92. - - Martin, Tobias, 143 to 146. - - Martyn, Henry, 85, 86. - - Martyr's Close, 149, 150. - - Mat Making in Cornwall, 17th Century, 75. - - Methleigh, Manor of, 28, 34, 114, 117. - - Midsummer Eve Customs, 12. - - Militon, Job, 125, 126. - - Militon, John, 78. - - Militon, William, 128. - - Miners, Cornish, Condition of, 17th Century, 72. - - Miracle Plays, Cornish, 76, 77. - - - N. - - Nansladons, Family of, 115. - - Nicknames, 75. - - Nicol, Henry, Minister of Germoe, 61. - - Norman Churches at Breage and Germoe, 36, 37. - - Norman Fonts at Breage and Germoe, 36. - - - O. - - Oratories at Rinsey and Godolphin, 50. - - Orchard, William, Vicar of Breage, 69 to 72, 82. - - Ordinalia, The, 77. - - Origen, 17. - - - P. - - Palm Sunday Rites in Mediæval Church, 56. - - Pascasius, Vicar of Breage, 43, 44, 45. - - Patronage of Breage and Germoe, 37. - - Pelagius, 17. - - Pellour, Sir William, 49, 57. - - Pencair, Hill of, 18, 23. - - Pengersick Castle, 50. - - Pengersick, Henry de, 46. - - Pengersick, John, 50. - - Penwith Peninsula, 15. - - Pembro Farm, 24. - - Pers, Sir William, Vicar of Breage, 45 to 57. - - Phial Reputed to Contain Blood of Christ, at Hayles Abbey, 42. - - Phoenicians, 14. - - Pilgrims to St. Michael's Mount, 56. - - Population of Breage and Germoe in Saxon Times, 32. - - Porthleven, Shipwreck at, 47. - - Poseidonius, 14. - - Prior and Canons of Plympton, 35. - - - R. - - Reformation, Effects of, 73, 76. - - Religion of Celts, 10, 14. - - Restoration of Breage and Germoe Churches in 1891, 88. - - Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, 40, 41, 42, 88. - - Rinsey, John, 50, 101. - - Rinsey, Manor of, 28, 29. - - Roads, Cornish, in 17th Century, 74. - - Robert de Belesme, 37. - - Robert de la More, Vicar of Breage, 43. - - Robert, Earl of Cornwall, 34, 37. - - Romans in Cornwall, 16. - - Rood Stairway in Breage Church, 52. - - - S. - - St. Aubyn, Thomas, 78, 126. - - St. Aubyn, John, 79. - - St. Bridget, 23. - - St. Breaca, 16, 19, 22, 24. - - St. Breoke, 38. - - St. Christopher, 52. - - St. Cruenna, 19, 22. - - St. Chrysostom, 17. - - St. Germoe, 17, 19, 22, 23, 46. - - St. Germoe's Chair, 54 to 56, 125. - - St. Germoe's Well, 54. - - St. Gwithian, 22. - - St. Hilary Church, 16. - - St. Ia, 22. - - St. Just, 21. - - St. Levan, 22. - - St. Michael's Mount, 14, 15, 37. - - St. Moran, 22. - - St. Ninian, 19. - - St. Patrick, 19. - - St. Wendron, 22. - - Sanctuary Fields, 148. - - Saxons, 17. - - Saxon Churches at Breage and Germoe, 35. - - Saxon Land Tenure, 29, 30, 31. - - Saxon Manor Courts, 33. - - Scilly Islands, 106. - - Screen in Breage Church, 89. - - Sheep, Cornish, in 17th Century, 74. - - Sheep, Phantom, 151. - - Skerrit, Alice, 105. - - Skerrit, John, 105. - - Sidney, Thomas, 106. - - Simon de Apulia, Bishop of Exeter, 39. - - Smith, Robert, Curate of Germoe, 71. - - Smith, Right Honourable W. H., 88. - - Smuggling Ways, 139, 140. - - Snow storms, Great, 97. - - Spanish Armada, 10. - - Sparnon, Family of, 69, 128. - - Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, 50. - - Stannary Courts, 39. - - Stone Circles, 11. - - Surnames, Local, 93, 94. - - - T. - - Taliesin, 18. - - Thanes, Saxon, 20. - - Tenure of the Manor of Godolphin, 100, 101. - - Tertullian, 17. - - Teudor, Cornish Chief, 19, 23. - - Thirteenth Century, Spirit of, 49. - - Tillage in Cornwall in 17th Century, 74. - - Tin Mines, 14, 42, 73. - - Tinners, Their Love of Fighting, 81. - - Tithes of Breage, 71, 150. - - Tolmena, 23. - - Totemism, 13, 14. - - Tonsure, Irish, 20. - - Tower of Breage Church, 25. - - Tregew, Manor of, 28. - - Tregoning Hill, 18, 23, 24, 86. - - Tremearne Farm, Ancient Chapel at, 116. - - Trescowe, Manor of, 28, 29. - - Trewarvas Head, 12, 73. - - Trewinnard, James, the elder, Vicar of Breage, 82. - - Trewinnard, James, the younger, Vicar of Breage, 82. - - Treworlas, Manor of, 115 to 117. - - - V. - - Vane, Sir Harry, 107. - - "Venton Ghost" Field, 149. - - Villeins, 29. - - - W. - - Waller, Cavalier Poet, 107. - - Walter de Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, 44. - - Welsh at Reformation devoted to the Church, 62. - - Welsh Bards, 18. - - Wesley, John, 63, 72, 83 to 85. - - Western Cornwall, Once Thickly Wooded, 74. - - Wheal Vor Mine, 16, 73. - - William de Mortain, Earl of Cornwall, 37. - - William Fitz Robert, Earl of Cornwall, 37. - - William, Earl of Gloucester, 38. - - William, Son of Humphrey, Parson of Breage, 40, 43. - - William, Son of Richard, Parson of Breage, 40, 43. - - William the Conqueror, 28. - - Wilmet, John, 152. - - Wilmington, Hundred of, 33. - - Wizard's Plot, 149. - - Wrecking and Wreckers, 47, 48, 78 to 80, 87, 88, 118. - - Wrestling, 75. - - - Y. - - Yealmpton, 46. - - Yorke, Mary, 65. - - Yurl, Sir John, Vicar of Breage, 57. - -[Illustration] - - - - - Transcriber's notes: - - The following is a list of changes made to the original. - The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one. - - human victims were sometimes sacraficed in honour of the sun. - human victims were sometimes sacrificed in honour of the sun. - - and that they came to regard them with something of superstitous - and that they came to regard them with something of superstitious - - Wheal Vor itself means in the Celtic tongue "great work,' - Wheal Vor itself means in the Celtic tongue "great work," - - {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}. - {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}. - - ecclesiam de Eglosccraven et capellam Sancti Germot" - ecclesiam de Egloscraven et capellam Sancti Germot" - - through it may seem in the present age, satisfied the deep - though it may seem in the present age, satisfied the deep - - thee art'nt ded, I'll make thee," and smote him upon the - thee artn't ded, I'll make thee," and smote him upon the - - improvement and progess. If out of this dark and barbarous - improvement and progress. If out of this dark and barbarous - - the name. The great humanist namesake of Edmundus. - the name. The great humanist namesake of Edmundus, - - resulted in the route of the French opposed to them and the - resulted in the rout of the French opposed to them and the - - fragment from Evelyne's memoir of her: "She died in the - fragment from Evelyn's memoir of her: "She died in the - - no degree but had some obligation to her memorei. She - no degree but had some obligation to her memorie. She - - was at Yewton, in Devonshire, where they had been settled - was at Yewton, in Devonshire, where they had been settled since - - _John Carter, "King of Prussia"_; "_Smuggling_ - _John Carter, "King of Prussia"_; _Smuggling_ - - collecting money for the 'company." Indeed, things - collecting money for the 'company.'" Indeed, things - - upholder of the law, The smuggler without trepidation proceeded - upholder of the law. The smuggler without trepidation proceeded - - summon the troubled spirit and banish it from the neigbourhood - summon the troubled spirit and banish it from the neighbourhood - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of an Ancient Parish, by H. R. 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