PART V.

This Priory, or Abbey, being dissolved by act of Parliament, and given to the King, 33d Henry VIII. 1542, he gave the revenues and government of the place to Humphry Arundell, Esq. of the Lanherne family, who enjoyed the same till the first year of King Edward VI. 1549; at which time that King set forth several injunctions about religion: amongst others, this was one, viz. that all images found in churches, for divine worship or otherwise, should be pulled down and cast forth out of those churches; and that all preachers should perswade the people from praying to saints or for the dead; and from the use of beads, ashes, processions, masses, dirges, and praying to God publicly in an unknown tongue; and least there should be a defect of preachers as to those points, homilies were made and ordered to be read in all churches. Pursuant to this injunction one Mr. Body, a commissioner for pulling down images in the churches of Cornwall, going to do his duty in Helston church, a priest, in company with Killtor of Kevorne and others, at unawares stabbed him in the body with a knife; of which wound he instantly fell dead in that place. And though the murderer was taken and sent up to London, tried, found guilty of wilful murder in Westminster Hall, and executed in Smithfield, yet the Cornish people flocked together in a tumultuous and rebellious manner by the instigation of their priests in diverse parts of the shire or county, and committed many barbarities and outrages in the same; and though the justices of the peace apprehended several of them, and sent them to jail, yet they could not with all their power suppress the growth of their insurrection; for soon after Humphry Arundell aforesaid, Governor of this Mount, sided with those mutineers, and broke out into actual rebellion against his and their Prince. The mutineers chose him for the General of their army, and for inferior officers as Captains, Majors, and Colonels,――John Rosogan, James Rosogan, Will. Winslade of Tregarrick or St. Agnes at Mithian, John Payne of St. Ives, Robert Bochym of Bochym, and his brother, Thomas Underhill, John Salmon, William Segar; together with several priests, rectors, vicars, and curates of churches, as John Thompson, Roger Barret, John Woolcock, William Asa, James Mourton, John Barrow, Richard Bennet, and others, who mustered their soldiers according to the rules of military discipline at Bodmin, where the general rendezvous was appointed. But no sooner was the General Arundell departed from St. Michael’s Mount to exert his power in the camp and field aforesaid, but diverse gentlemen, with their wives and families, in his absence possessed themselves thereof; whereupon he dispatched a party of horse and foot to reduce his old garrison; which quickly they effected, by reason the besieged wanted provision and ammunition, and were distracted with the women and children’s fears and cries, and so they yielded the possession to their enemies on condition of free liberty of departing forthwith from thence with life, though not without being plundered.

The retaking of St. Michael’s Mount by the general Arundell proved much to the content and satisfaction of his army at Bodmin, consisting of about six thousand men, which they looked upon as a good omen of their future success, and the first-fruits of the valour and conduct of their general. Whereupon the confederates daily increased his army with great numbers of men from all parts, who listed themselves under his banner, which was not only pourtrayed, but by a cart brought into the field for their encouragement, viz. the pyx under its canopy, that is to say, the vessel containing the Roman host, or sacramental sacrifice, or body of Christ, together with crosses, banners, candlesticks, holy bread and water, to defend them from devils and the adverse power; (see Fox’s Martyrology, p. 669,) which was carried wheresoever the camp removed; which camp grew so tremendously formidable at Bodmin, that Job Militon, Esq. then Sheriff of Cornwall, with all the power of his bailiwick, durst not encounter with it during the time of the general’s stay in that place, which gave him and his rebels opportunity to consult together for the good of their public interest, and to make out a declaration, or manifesto, of the justice of their cause, and grounds of taking up arms; but the army, in general, consisting of a mixed multitude of men of diverse professions, trades, and employments, could not easily agree upon the subject matter and form thereof. Some would have no justice of the peace, for that generally they were ignorant of the laws, and could not construe or English a Latin bill of indictment without the clerk of the peace’s assistance, who imposed upon them, with other attornies, for gain, wrong sense, and judgment; besides, in themselves, they were corrupt and partial in determining cases; others would have no lawyers nor attornies, for that the one cheated the people in wrong advice or counsel, and the other of their money by extravagant bills of costs; others would have no court leets, or court barons, for that the cost and expense in prosecuting an action at law therein was many times greater than the debt or profit. But generally it was agreed upon amongst them, that no inclosure should be left standing, but that all lands should be held in common; yet what expedients should be found out and placed in the room of those several orders and degrees of men and officers, none could prescribe.

However, the priests, rectors, vicars, and curates, the priors, monks, friars, and other dissolved collegiates, hammered out seven articles of address for the King’s majesty; upon grant of which they declared their bodies, arms, and goods should all be at his disposal, viz.

1. That curates should administer baptism at all times of need, as well week days as holy days.

2. That their children might be confirmed by the Bishop.

3. That mass might be celebrated, no man communicating with the priest.

4. That they might have reservation of the Lord’s body in churches.

5. That they might have holy bread and water in remembrance of Christ’s body and blood.

6. That priests might not be married.

7. That the six articles set forth by King Henry VIII. might be continued at least till the King came of age.

Now those six articles were invented by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester (who was the bastard son of Lionel Woodvill, Bishop of Salisbury, by his concubine, Elizabeth Gardiner; the which Lionel was fifth son of Richard Woodvill, Earl Rivers, 1470), and therefore called his creed, viz.

1. That the body of Christ is really present in the sacrament after consecration.

2. That the sacrament cannot truly be administered under both kinds.

3. That priests entered into holy orders might not marry.

4. That vows of chastity entered into upon mature deliberation, were to be kept.

5. That private masses were not to be omitted.

6. That auricular confession was necessary in the church of God.

To those demands of the Cornish rebels the King so far condescended as to send an answer in writing to every article, and also a general pardon to every one of them if they would lay down arms. (See Fox’s Acts and Monuments, Book ix. p. 668.) But, alas! those overtures of the King were not only rejected by the rebels, but made them the more bold and desperate; especially finding themselves unable longer to subsist upon their own estates and money, or the bounty of the country, which hitherto they had done. The general therefore resolved, as the fox who seldom chucks at home, to prey upon other men’s goods and estates further off, for his army’s better subsistence. Whereupon he dislodged from Bodmin, and marched with his soldiers into Devon, where Sir Peter Carew, Knight, was ready to obstruct their passage with his posse comitatus. But when they saw the order and discipline of the rebels, and that their army consisted of above six thousand fighting men, desperate, well-armed, and prepared for battle, the Sheriff and his troops permitted them quietly to pass through the heart of that country to Exeter; where the citizens, upon notice of their approaches (as formerly done), shut the gates, and put themselves in a posture of defence. At which time Dr. John Voysey was Bishop of Exeter, viz. 10th July, 1549, John Blacaler was Mayor, William Tothill was Sheriff, Lewis Pollard, Recorder, William Beaumont, Sword-bearer; John Drake, Geffery Arundell, Henry Maunder, and John Tooker, were Bailiffs or Stewards; Thomas Prestwood, John Maynard, John Webb, William Hals, Hugh Pope, William Hurst, Nicholas Limmet, Robert Midwinter, Henry Booth, John Berry, John Britnall, John Tuckfield, John Stawell, Edward Bridgman, Thomas Grigg, John Drake, Thomas Skidmore, John Bodley, and others (all which had before that time been Mayors), Stewards or Bailiffs of the city.――See Isaack’s Memorials of Exeter, p. 122.

Things being in this posture, the general Arundell summoned the citizens to deliver their town and castle to his dominion; but they sent him a flat denial. Whereupon, forthwith he ordered his men to fire the gates of the city, which accordingly they did; but the citizens on the inside supplied those fires with such quantities of combustible matter, so long till they had cast up a half-moon on the inside thereof, upon which, when the rebels attempted to enter, they were shot to death or cut in pieces. Their entrance being thus obstructed at the gates, they put in practice other expedients, viz. either to undermine the walls or blow them up with barrels of gunpowder, which they had placed in the same; but the citizens also prevented this their design, by countermining their mines and casting so much water on the places where their powder barrels were lodged, that the powder would not take fire. Thus stratagems of war were daily practised between the besieged and besiegers, to the great hurt and damage of each other.

King Edward being informed by his council of this siege, and that there was little or no dependance upon the valour and conduct of the Sheriff of Devon, and his bailiwick, to suppress this rebellion or raise the siege of Exeter, granted his commission to John Lord Russell, created Baron Russell of Tavistock by King Henry, and Lord High Admiral and Lord Privy Seal, an old experienced soldier who had lost an eye at the siege of Montrueil in France, to be his general for raising soldiers to fight those rebels; who forthwith, pursuant thereto, raised a considerable army and marched with them to Honiton; but when he came there he was informed that the enemy consisted of ten thousand able fighting men armed; which occasioned his halting there longer than he intended, expecting greater supplies of men, that were coming to his aid under conduct of the Lord Grey; which at length arrived and joined his forces, whereupon he dislodged from thence and marched towards Exeter; where on the way he had several sharp conflicts with the rebels with various success, sometimes the better and sometimes the worse; though at length, after much fatigue of war, maugre all opposition and resistance of the rebels, he forced them to raise their siege, and entered the city of Exeter with relief, 6th August, 1549, after thirty-two days’ siege; wherein the inhabitants had valiantly defended themselves, though in that extremity they were necessitated by famine to eat horses, moulded cloth, and bread made of bran; in reward of whose loyalty King Edward gave to the city for ever the manor of Evyland, since sold by the city for making the river Exe navigable.

After raising the siege as aforesaid, the general Arundell rallied his routed forces of rebels, and gave battle to the Lord Russell and the King’s army, with that inveterate courage, animosity, and resolution, that the greatest part of his men were slain upon the spot, others threw down their arms on mercy, the remainder fled, and were afterwards many of them taken and executed. Sir Anthony Kingston, Knight, a Gloucestershire man, after this rebellion was made Provost Marshal for executing such western rebels as could be taken, or were made prisoners in Cornwall and Devon, together with all such who had been aiders or assisters of them in that rebellion; upon whom, according to his power and office, he executed martial law with sport and justice (as Mr. Carew and other historians tell us); and the principal persons that have come to my knowledge, over whose misery he triumphed, was Boyer the Mayor of Bodmin; Mayow of Clevyan, in St. Colomb Major, whom he hanged at the tavern sign-post in that town, of whom tradition saith his crime was not capital; and therefore his wife was advised by her friends to hasten to the town after the Marshal and his men, who had him in custody, and beg his life. Which accordingly she prepared to do, and to render herself the more amiable petitioner before the Marshal’s eyes, this dame spent so much time in attiring herself and putting on her French hood then in fashion, that her husband was put to death before her arrival. In like manner the Marshal hanged one John Payne, the Mayor, or Portreeve of St. Ives, on a gallows erected in the middle of that town, whose arms are still to be seen in one of the fore-seats in that church, viz. in a plain field three pine apples. Besides those he executed many more in other places in Cornwall, that had been actors, assisters, or promoters of this rebellion. Lastly, it is further memorable of this Sir Anthony Kingston, that in Sir John Heywood’s Chronicle he is taxed of extreme cruelty in doing his Marshal’s office aforesaid. Of whom Fuller, in Gloucestershire, gives us this further account of him: that afterwards, in the reign of Queen Mary, being detected, with several others, of a design to rob her exchequer, though he made his escape and fled into his own country, yet there he was apprehended and taken into custody by a messenger, who was bringing him up to London in order to have justice done upon him for his crime, but he being conscious of his guilt, and despairing of pardon, so effectually poisoned himself that he died on the way, without having the due reward of his desert.

After the death of Humphrey Arundell, Governor of St. Michael’s Mount, executed for treason as aforesaid, King Edward VI. sold or gave the government and revenues thereof to Job Militon, Esq. aforesaid, then Sheriff of Cornwall, during his life; but his son dying without issue male, the government, by what title I know not, devolved upon the Bassets of Tihidy, from some of whom, as I am informed, it came by purchase to Sir John St. Aubyn, Bart. now in possession thereof.

In the month of July, 1676, at St. Michael’s Mount, about four of the clock in the afternoon, came from the British ocean, or sea, a ball of fire, seen by the inhabitants and fishermen at sea, which struck against the south moorstone wall of this Mount’s church or chapel; where, meeting resistance from the wall, it glanced through the stones thereof with some rebounds, making a path, or strake, through the same, in some places about four inches broad and two inches deep, from one end of the long side wall almost to the other; and from thence, by another rebound, it struck the strong oak durns of the dwelling-house entry, and broke the same in two or three pieces, and so flew into the hall, where it fell to the ground, having spent its force and strength as aforesaid, and then brake asunder in pieces, by the side of Mrs. Catherine St. Aubyn, without doing her any manner of hurt, leaving a sulphurous smoke behind it in the room; which ball of fire then appeared to consist of a black-blue metally matter, congealed or melted by fire like as coal and cinders may be, as Sir John St. Aubyn, the elder, and other spectators told me.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to Mr. Hals, except an uninteresting dissertation to prove that St. Michael’s Mount is not the Ocrinum of Ptolemy.

WHITAKER.

Mr. Whitaker has given several notes and comments on the narrative of Mr. Hals, which will here be placed, together with references to the passages to which they relate.

P. 170. (_a_) The name is Mara-zion, or zien, on the sea, I believe, and Market-Jew is merely a similar appellation in English. A Jew, in Cornish language, is Ethow, and Edheuon, Ethchan, are Jews.

P. 170. (_b_) This corrects Mr. Willis, in ii. 3, who there says of the Market-Jew, and other towns expressly, “none of them ever sent Members to Parliament, or were ever summoned so to do.” Yet it coincides exactly with what Dr. Brady remarks in his very valuable treatise on Boroughs, p. 57, 59, and adds one more to his few returns, and instances of very many more which might have been produced “if needful,” p. 59.

P. 172. (_c_) Sel, sil, or sul is merely a view, or prospect, from the Welsh sylly, to look or behold, and the Armorick sell, a look or sight; and din-sil, or din-sul, means only the hill of prospect.

(_d_) The real name of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornish is this, Carreg luz en kuz, a hoary rock in a wood. Borlase’s Scilly Isles, p. 94.

P. 178. (_e_) This notice, unobserved by the noticer himself, lets us into a part of the history of this Mount, which has never been unfolded yet. There was plainly a nunnery here, as well as a monastery. Accordingly we find before what this circumstance alone explains, that there were two chapels upon the Mount. One is described before as “a little chapel yet standing, and dedicated to the Archangel St. Michael, part whereof is now converted to a dwelling-house.” The other is thus, as “that which renders this place most famous, the present church or chapel, yet extant, and kept in good repair with pews; upon the tower of this church or chapel, for it is bigger than many other Cornish parish churches, is that celebrated place called Kader-Migell, i. e. Michael’s chair.” So distinct are these chapels! The monastery I apprehend to have been, “where, towards the north-west, is a kind of level plain about four or six landyards,” with “a downright precipice of rocks towards the sea, at least twenty fathoms high.” And where, about the greater chapel, are “cells cut in the rocks for hermitical monks of the aforesaid order.” And the nunnery I suppose to have been where, “from this little square, or plain, there is an artificial kind of ascent going towards the east, which offers you a full sight of the outer walls of the castle, and brings you to Porth Horne (Hourn), part of which is yet to be seen.”

Thus do we get a glimpse of a nunnery that is invisible from every other point. Tanner, that witness for all other authors upon monastic notices, gives us no intimation from any of them concerning this nunnery. Yet Leland confirms what I have observed in Mr. Hals before, the existence of two churches, or chapels, upon the summit of the Mount. “The way to the church,” he says, concerning the ascent to the top, “entereth at the north side from half ebb to half flood, to the foot of the Mount, and so ascendeth by steps and grices westward, and thence returneth eastward to the utterward of the church,” or Mount. Within the said ward is a court strongly walled, “wherein on the south side is the Chapel of St. Michael, and in the east side a chapel of our Lady. The Captain and priest’s lodgings be in the south side of St. Michael’s Chapel.” (Itin. VII. 118.) When this Captain was fixed there with a garrison, as we shall soon see when he was, the nuns were obliged to relinquish their cells to him and them. For this reason we have not a hint in all the ages afterwards of a nunnery here. Only the chapel was continued for the use of the garrison, while the church itself was still left to the monks. Such an union as this, of a monastery and a nunnery upon the summit of a pyramidal hill, and amid the sequestrations of solitude, carries a strange appearance with it to our Protestant suspiciousness; yet it was not very uncommon in the reign of popery. It seems to have been peculiarly calculated for that purpose for which both monastery and nunnery were generally calculated, to shew the triumph of faith over the impulses of sense, and to shew that triumph more conspicuously, by the association of monks and nuns in monastic vicinity to each other. “This little fortress,” as Mr. Hals has told us before, “comprehendeth sufficient rooms and lodgings for the Captain, or Governor, and his soldiers to reside in,” which I have supposed above “to have been the original habitations of the nuns and their Abbess; to which adjoining are several other houses, or cells, heretofore pertaining to the monks that dwell here, all admirable for their strength, buildings, and contrivance,” and all probably therefore contemporary or nearly so.

P. 180. (_f_) This account of St. Michael’s Mount is in a strain of intelligence and judiciousness much superior to the general tenor of Mr. Hals’s writings. To it I wish to add some useful notices, in accompaniment of some that I have given before.

Upon the very crown and summit of this pyramidal hill, stands proudly eminent the church, stretching from east to west, and having a tower in the middle. It was built by Edward the Confessor, who was the first to consecrate the Mount to religion, and erected the church on the little plain at the top of it. Having done this, and erected habitations for the clergy attending it, he gave them, by charter still existing in recital, the whole of the Mount, and many lands beside. “Ego Edwardus, Dei gracia Anglorum Rex, dare volans pretium redemptionis animæ meæ vel parentum meorum, sub consensu et testimonio bonorum virorum, tradidi Sancto Michaeli Archangelo, in usum fratrum Deo servientium in eodem loco, Sanctum Michaelem,” the church, “qui est juxta mare.” He also gives them “totam terram de Venefire;” and proceeds “portum addere qui vocatur Ruminella.” Romney, in Kent. Then came Robert Earl of Mortaigne, the falsely reputed founder, merely to associate this church with another of the same appellation in Normandy, and to enlarge its endowments. In a new charter, equally as the old without a date, he, “habens in bello Sancti Michaelis vexillum,” says, “do et concedo Montem Sancti Michaelis de Cornubiâ Deo et monachis ecclesiæ Sancti Michaelis de Periculo Maris servientibus, cum dimidiâ terræ hidâ.” But, as he adds, “postea autem ut certissime comperi, Beati Michaelis meritis monachorumque suffragiis michi a Deo ex propriâ conjuge mea filio concesso, auxi donum ipsi beato militiæ celestis principi, dedi et dono in Amaneth (Quere, where?) tres acras terræ, Travalaboth videlicet, Lismanoch, Trequaners, Carmailoc,” &c. 2. And, finally, comes the Bishop of Exeter, in a charter dated expressly 1085, to free “ecclesiam Beati Michaelis Archangeli de Cornubiâ,” from all episcopal jurisdiction. 3. Thus erected and thus privileged, the church remained till the day of William of Worcester, and he thus notes the dimensions of it: “Memorandum, longitudo ecclesiæ Montis Sancti Michaelis continet 30 steppys, latitudo continet 12 steppys.” 4. Carew also speaks of it as “a chapel for devotion, builded by William Earl of Morton,” (Carew so speaking with the multitude, when he ought to have given the building to the Confessor,) “and greatly haunted while folk endured (endeared) their merits by farre travailing.” 5. Carew thus refers obscurely, perhaps unconsciously, to a particular privilege annexed to the church, which was given by one decree from Pope Gregory, and confirmed by another from Bishop Leofric. “Universis Sanctæ Matris ecclesiæ presentes literas inspecturis vel audituris salutem,” cries the former, “noverit universitas vestra quod sanctissimus Papa Gregorius, anno ab incarnatione Domini millesimo septuagesimo,” the very year, therefore, in which Earl Montaign gave this church to the other in Normandy, “ad ecclesiam Montis Sancti Michaelis, in comitatu Cornubiæ, gerens eximiæ devocionis affectum, piè concessit ecclesiæ predictæ, [et] omnibus fidelibus, qui illam cum suis beneficiis et elemosinis,” (with alms and oblations, so that “folke endeared their merits,” not merely “by farre travailing,” but by a tax upon their purse,) “exepecierint seu visitaverint, tertiam partem penetenciarum suarum eis condonari,” a third of all those acts being remitted, which penitents were enjoined to perform, in order to prove the sincerity of their penitence to God, and to themselves. The same privilege is repeated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1085, thus: “omnibus illis, qui illum ecclesiam suis cum beneficiis et elemosinis expetierint et visitaverint, tertiam partem penitentiarum condonamus.” Yet, what is surprising, the privilege became nearly as much unknown afterwards as it is at present, and was therefore promulgated by the clergy of the church at the beginning of the fifteenth century: “Tota verba,” adds the reciter, “in antiquis registris de novo,” a little before William’s visit, “in hâc ecclesiâ repertis, inventa,” being then unknown to the very clergy themselves, and only discovered by the discovery of some registers equally unknown, “prout his in valvis ecclesiæ publicè ponuntur,” were exhibited to public view by being posted upon the folding-doors of the church. “Et quia pluribus istud est incognitum, ideo nos, in Christo Dei famuli et ministri hujus ecclesiæ, universitatem vestram qui regimen animarum possidetis,” all the rectors and vicars of the kingdom, “ob mutuæ vicissitudinis obtentum requirimus et rogamus, quatenus ista publicetis in ecclesiis vestris, ut vestri subditi et subjecti ad majorem exoracionem devocionis attentius animentur, et locum istum gloriosius peregrinando frequentent ad dona et indulgencias predicta graciosè consequenda.” From this republication of the privilege, undoubtedly, did the numerous resort of pilgrims to the church begin. Then too was formed assuredly that seat on the tower, which is so ridiculously described by Carew, as “a little without the castle――a bad seat in a craggy place――somewhat dangerous for access;” when it is only a chair, composed of stones, projecting from the two sides of the tower battlements, and uniting into a seat without the south-western angle, but elevated above the battlements on each side. It thus appears somewhat dangerous from the elevation or projection only, is an evident addition to the tower, and was assuredly made at this period for the pilgrims, that they might complete their devotions at the Mount by sitting in this St. Michael’s Chair, as denominated, and by showing themselves as pilgrims to the country round. Hence, in an author[6] who alludes to customs without feeling the force of his allusion, we read this intimation:

Who knowes not Michael’s Mount and Chaire, The pilgrim’s holy vaunt?

We thus find a reason for the construction of such a chair, that comports with all the purposes of the church on the tower of which it is constructed, and that shows it ministered equally with this to the uses of religion then predominant; making it not, as Carew most extravagantly makes it, “somewhat dangerous for access, and therefore holy for the adventure,” but holy in itself, as on the church-tower, holy in its purposes, as the seat of the pilgrims, and doubly holy as the seat of accomplishment to all their vows, as the seat of invitation to all the country. And the whole church remains to this day, beaten by the rains and buffeted by the winds, yet a venerable monument of Saxon architecture.

This Mount appears decisively, from the charter of the Confessor, to have been in his time not surrounded with the sea during all the flood tide, and not accessible by land only during some hours of the ebb-tide, as it is at present. It was then not surrounded at all. It was only near the sea then. Thus the Confessor describes it expressly, as “Sanctum Michaelem qui est juxta mare.” But as Worcestre adds, with a range back into the past that is very striking, yet is in general confirmed by the charter above, “the space of ground upon Mount St. Michael is two hundred cubits, surrounded with the ocean,” at flood tide; “the place aforesaid was originally inclosed with a very thick wood, distant from the ocean six miles, affording the finest shelter for wild beasts.”

THE EDITOR.

Nothing is known with any certainty respecting the ancient state of St. Michael’s Mount.

It may have been the seat of a Celtic superstition somewhat similar to that imagined and described by Dr. William Borlase. Sir Christopher Hawkins has adduced many arguments for proving this semi-island to have been the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus; and its situation, united to its sea-port, may well have recommended such a place for a factory to the merchants of any civilized nation engaged in commercial transactions with people so rude as were the Britons of those remote times. The universal practice in our days, is to establish fortified stations under similar circumstances, since neither person or property can be effectually protected in any other way.

The earliest definite tradition of a Christian establishment dates with the pilgrimage of St. Kenna, in consequence of the appearance of the Arch-angel at that place. No particular circumstances are ever related of this extraordinary vision, neither as to the occasion nor as to the persons so eminently favoured as to behold the celestial glory, nor as to the time, nor of the exact spot, since it could not have taken place on the top of the tower, that building having been constructed in honour of the vision itself.

It may be remarked that lofty and elevated situations throughout Europe are dedicated to St. Michael, probably on account of the Archangel being uniformly painted with wings, and therefore tacitly imagined to have habits similar to birds; and perhaps the dedication of the largest of our domestic fowls to the celebration of his festival, may owe its origin to a similar analogy.

Saint Kenna is believed to have imparted the same identical virtue to the chair which overhangs the tower, as she bestowed on the celebrated well near Liskeard, and since no one obtains a seat in this chair without much resolution and steadiness of head, one may be inclined to anticipate the supposed effect with greater certainty from the achievement of sitting in St. Michael’s chair, than from drinking water from St. Kenna’s well. The time of St. Kenna’s visitation is not accurately known. She is supposed to be the same St. Keyna, daughter of a prince of Brecknockshire, who lived a recluse life for many years near a town situated midway between Bristol and Bath, since called Cainsbarn, after her name, where she founded a monastery in the beginning of the sixth century, and cleaned the neighbourhood from snakes and vipers by converting them all into Cornua Ammonis, which have abounded there ever since, in testimony of her sanctity and of the fervour of her prayers.

The supposed ancient site of St. Michael’s Mount, its being the hoary monk in a wood surrounded by forests, is deduced from arguments very similar to those which prove the miraculous power of St. Kenna in converting serpents into stones.

Trees have been found buried under the sand and silt in the Mount’s Bay, as they are frequently found in every similar inlet of the sea on the southern coast of England. And the tradition, if a term so respectable may be applied to such vague conjectures, applies equally to Mount St. Michael; or they may have been derived from a common origin. See Le Grand Dictionaire Historique, par M. Moreri, Paris edition of 1188, with the Supplement of 1735. In the 5th folio volume of the Dictionary, p. 193, and in the 2d folio volume of the Supplement, p. 261, will be found these passages:

“Saint Michel ou Mont Saint Michel, en Latin Mons Sancti Michaelis in periculo Maris. Bourg de France en Normandie, avec une Abbaie celebre et un chateau. Sa situation est assez particuliere, sur un rocher qui s’etend au milieu d’une grand greve, que la mer couvre de son reflux. On dit qu’ Augustin, evêque d’Avranches, qui vivait au commencement du huitieme siecle, y suit des chanoines apres une apparition de l’Archange Seint Michel.

“Ce mont s’appelloit le Mont de Tombe à cause de sa figure. On pretend qu’une foret occupoit autrefois sont le terrain depuis le mont jusques aux Paroisses de Tanis et d’Ardevon; que la mer a detruit cette foret, et qu’elle en a pris la place; et c’est de la, dit on, que le Mont Saint Michel est surnomme, ‘Au peril de la mer,’ Mons in periculo Maris.”

The first authentic document relative to St. Michael’s Mount is the charter of Saint Edward the Confessor, the original of which remained among the archives of Mount St. Michael.

In the recent edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. vii. p. 988:

Priory of St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall.――A priory of Benedictine monks was placed here by King Edward the Confessor. Before A.D. 1085, however, it was annexed by Robert Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, to the Abbey of St. Michael in Periculo Maris, in Normandy.

The following entry relating to the property of St. Michael’s Priory, in Cornwall, occurs in the Domesday Survey:

“Terra Sancti Michaelis.――Ecclesia S. Michaelis tenet Treiwal, Brismar tenebat tempore regis Edwardi. Ibi sunt ii hidæ quæ numquam geldaverunt. Terra est viii car. Ibi est i. car. cum uno villano, et ii. bord. et x. acr. pasturæ. Val. xx. solid. De hiis ii. hid. abstulit Comes Moriton i. hidam. Val. xx. sol.”

In Hampshire, Domesday, tom. i. fol. 43, there is another entry concerning St. Michael’s Priory:

In Basingstoches Hund.――Ecclesia S. Michaelis de Monte tenet de lege unam ecclesiam cum i. hida et decima M. de Basingestoches. Ibi est presbyter et ii. villani et iiii. bord. cum i. car. et molin. de xx. sol. et ii. acr. prati. Tot. val. iiii. lib. et v. sol.

Oliver, in his Historic Collections relating to the monasteries of Devon, p. 147, gives the following list of Priors of St. Michael’s Mount:――

Ralph de Carteret, admitted Dec. 21, 1260. Richard Perer, April 11, 1275. Geoffrey de Gernon, July 8, 1283. Peter de Cara Villa, Sept. 12, 1316. John Hardy, Oct. 3, 1349. John de Volant, April 24, 1362. Richard Auncell, Dec. 7, 1385. William Lambert, Oct. 1, 1410.

As the alien priories were suppressed by Henry V. who began his reign in 1413, William Lambert was probably the last Prior.

Bishop Tanner says, in his Notitia Monastica:――After the suppression of the alien priories, this was first given by King Henry VI. to King’s College, Cambridge, and afterwards by King Edward IV. to the nunnery of Sion, in Middlesex. At the first seizure by King Edward III. the farm was rated but at 10_l._ per annum, but at the general dissolution by Henry VIII. the lands belonging to this house, as parcel of Sion Abbey, were valued at 110_l._ 12_s._ per annum.

The charter of Saint Edward may be thus translated:

“In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity. I Edward, by the grace of God King of the English, willing to give the price of the redemption of my own soul, or of the souls of my parents, with the consent and attestation of good men, have delivered to St. Michael the Archangel, for the use of the brethren serving God in that place, Saint Michael, which is near the sea, with all its appendages, that is to say, with its towns, castles, lands, and other appurtenances. I have added, moreover, all the land of Vennefire, with its towns, villages, fields, meadows, and grounds, cultivated or uncultivated, with their proceeds. And I have joined, as an addition to the things already given, the harbour called Ruminella, with all things belonging to it, that is, with mills and establishments for fisheries and with their proceeds.

“But if any one shall endeavour to interpose subtile impediments against these gifts, let him be made an anathema, and incur the perpetual anger of God.

“And that the authority of our donation may be held the more truly and firmly hereafter, I have, in confirming it, underwritten with my own hand, which many also of the witnesses have done.

Signum Regis Edwardi ✠ Roberti Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis ✠ Herberti Episcopi Lexoviensis ✠ Roberti Episcopi Constantiensis ✠ Radulphi ✠ Vinfredi ✠ Nigelli Vicecomitis. Anschitelli Choschet. Turstini.

The next charter:

“In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, I Robert, by the grace of God Earl of Moriton, influenced with the fire of divine love, supporting in battle the standard of St. Michael, do make known to all the sons of our holy mother church, that for the salvation of the souls of myself and of my wife, also for the salvation, the prosperity, and safety of the most glorious King William, and for obtaining the reward of eternal life, do give and grant Mount Saint Michael, of Cornwall, to God and to the monks serving (God) of the church of Saint Michael in danger of the sea; with half a hide of land, so unbound, and peaceable and free from all customs, complaints, and suits, as I hold them. And I appoint, the King my Lord consenting, that they may hold a market on every Friday. Lastly, as I have most certainly ascertained that a son has been given me from God by my wife, through the merits of the blessed Michael, by the prayers of the monks, I have increased the gift to him the blessed chief of the heavenly host. I have given and do give in Amaneth three acres of land; that is to say, Trevelaboth, Lismanoch, Trequaners, Carmailoc, my most pious Lord King William assenting, together with the Queen Mathilde, and their noble sons the Earl Robert, William Rufus, and Henry yet a boy, to be quiet and free from all pleas, complaints, and forfeits, so that the monks shall not answer in any matter to the King’s justice, homicide alone excepted.

“And I Robert Earl of Moriton have made this donation, which William the glorious King of the English, and the Queen, and their children, have permitted and testified.

Signum Willielmi Regis ✠ Reginæ Mathildis ✠ Roberti Comitis ✠ Willielmi Rufi filii Regis ✠ Henrici Pueri ✠ Roberti Comitis Moritoni ✠ Matildis Comitissæ ✠ Willielmi filii eorum ✠

This charter is ratified and confirmed in the year one thousand and eighty-five from the Incarnation of our Lord. Signum Liurici Essecestriæ Episcopi ✠”

Among several other charters there is one from Richard King of the Romans, granting to the Prior three annual fairs, to be holden near their Grange, now the Long Barn.

“Richard by the grace of God King of the Romans, and always Augustus, to the Bishops, Abbats, Priors, Earls, Barons, and to all holding free tenures, and to others his lieges in the county of Cornwall, health, and every good. May you all know that we, by this our present confirmation, have granted and confirmed to the Prior of the blessed Michael, in Cornwall, and to his successors, that they may have and hold, and for ever possess, the three fairs and three markets on their own proper ground in Marchadyon, near their Barn; which three fairs and three markets they have hitherto held by the concession of our predecessors Kings of England, in Marghasbigan, on ground belonging to others; that is to say, on the middle day in Lent, and on the following day; and on the eve of the blessed Michael, and on the following day; and on the eve of the blessed Michael in monte tumbæ, and on the following day, provided that these fairs and markets may not cause any damage or injury to other fairs or markets, in conformity with the laws and customs of this kingdom of England.

“In witness of all which things we have thought fit to certify this present confirmation with our royal seal.”

There is also a bull of Pope Adrian, in the year 1155, confirming all their possessions to the Abbat and monks of Mount St. Michael, and among them Saint Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall; which, previously to its subjugation, had been exempted from all episcopal interference by Liuricus Bishop of Exeter, as he states by the exhortation and command of his Lord, Pope Gregory, and in compliance with the wishes of the King, of the Queen, and of all the magnates in the realm. And he also grants a release from a third part of their penances to all such persons as may visit this church of St. Michael with oblations and alms.

The Mount appears never to have received a religious society after its suppression as an alien priory in the reign of King Henry the Fifth. At the period of the general dissolution it must have been let at an annual rent, for in the abstract roll preserved in the Augmentation Office this entry occurs under Syon Abbey: “Cornub.――S. Michael. ad Montem, Firma 26_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._”

The history of St. Michael’s Mount since its dissolution, as a parcel of Sion Abbey, is very far from being clear. It appears to have been granted at first for terms of years to different gentlemen of the neighbourhood. To Millington, supposed of Pengersick, in Breage; to Harris, of Kenegie, in Gulval; and perhaps jointly with Millington to a Billett or Bennett. A person of that name, half-deranged, who died about the middle of the last century, continued during the whole of his life to shoot rabbits on the Mount one day in the year by way of maintaining a supposed right, which, being utterly groundless, was humanely allowed to pass unobserved.

Queen Elizabeth, or King James I. appears to have granted the whole in fee to Robert Cecil, created Earl of Salisbury May 4, 1605. But the Mount was seised into his own hands by King Charles I. just at the breaking out of the civil war, probably on account of the great military importance of this hold, when William Cecil, son of the former, having subscribed the Declaration made at York, on the 13th of June, 1642, left the party of which the King was at the head, and joined the opposite party in London.

An order was soon after given to Sir Francis Basset, then Sheriff of Cornwall, to place the Mount in a state of defence, and to supply it with ammunition and provisions; and it is not improbable that a grant was made of the castle and Mount to Sir Francis Basset at once, in witness of his zeal displayed in the cause, and as some indemnity for the expenses he had incurred, the royalist party never having had any considerable sum of money at their command.

The Bassets having suffered extremely in their property by efforts made during the war, and by compositions afterwards, it was found convenient to sell St. Michael’s Mount about the year 1660; when it was most fortunately purchased by Sir John St. Aubyn, in whose opulent family, and through five John St. Aubyns, it has descended to the present possessor of that name.

Every individual of this family has proved himself desirous of supporting, of maintaining, and of beautifying one of the most extrordinary spots in the whole world.

Including Dartmoor and the Scilly Islands, granite breaks out into six large but unequal masses, which, like the Appeninnes of Italy, extend a narrow promontory into the sea. St. Michael’s Mount presents a ridge of granite equally distinct with any of these great masses, and rises into a lofty cone, the base being surrounded by the killas, a peculiar schist, the chief metalliferous rock of Cornwall.

And here most of the curious phenomena are found which occur at the junction of these two rocks.

The buildings on the summit are grand and appropriate to the scenery, and venerable from their antiquity. The church, with its tower, completing the pyramidal figure of the whole, are supposed to date so far back as the reign of St. Edward. And a modern addition of two rooms on the eastern part of the building, made by the late Sir John Aubyn about the year 1750, is in complete harmony with the other parts, and adds to the general effect.

The inside of the castle, or priory, has been much decorated within a few years, and florid gothic ornaments have been added to the exterior; but opinions are much divided as to the accordance of these new parts with buildings to which Sir Walter Scott’s line may be applied,

In Saxon strength the Abbey frown’d.

At the foot of the Mount a small pier existed from a time probably anterior to the Monastery itself, but in the early part of the last century a lease on lives was granted to Mr. George Blewett, the early associate and in some degree rival of the great Mr. Lemon. This gentleman rebuilt the pier on a very enlarged scale, and concentrated here almost the whole commerce of Penwith hundred, which has since his time gone to Penzance and Hayle.

St. Michael’s Mount is said to be selected as the scene of many strange adventures, in Italian romances; while Cornwall is supposed to abound with enchanters, goblins, and other supernatural beings.

An English romance, once popular with the old and with the young, but now banished even from our nurseries, begins thus:

“In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a monstrous giant.” ma

Tasca Argo i Mini, e tascia Artu qui’ suoi Erronti, che di sogni empion le carte.

Marazion has certainly to boast of very great antiquity. It may have existed in the earliest times, if the Mount really afforded protection to the Eastern merchants, who sought the shores of Cornwall for its tin.

And the names Marazion and Marketjew cannot but excite an inclination to believe that in the Middle Ages this place may have been the resort of the most extraordinary people, who at all times have manifested a peculiar inclination for dealing in metals; it is moreover worthy of remark that all remains of places where tin has heretofore been smelted in the most simple manner, are invariably denominated Jew’s Houses. Marazion must also have afforded shelter and entertainment to the crowds of pilgrims assembling at particular periods to adore the Shrine of St. Michael, and to participate in the indulgence granted by Liuricus Bishop of Exeter, on the exhortation of his Lord the Pope.

Marazion received a charter of incorporation from Queen Elizabeth, but the town, although beautifully situated, has not kept pace in the career of improvement with many others, and especially not with Penzance.

About the middle of the last century, which was the great epoch for the establishment of turnpike roads, as the beginning of this century will be considered for their improvement on principles of science and of general accommodation, a turnpike road was laid out from Falmouth, through Penryn and Helston, to the western of Marazion, by which a new entrance was opened from Penzance; and about the year 1775 a large castellated house was built at the western extremity of the town, by Mr. John Blewett, son of Mr. George Blewett, the very considerable merchant noticed above, in imitation of the house at Tregenna, near St. Ive’s, built by Mr. Samuel Stephens a few years before, under the direction of Mr. Wood, an architect from Bath, who had constructed most of the splendid works in that city.

Mr. George Blewett, rising from the lowest origin, is said to have accumulated a hundred thousand pounds. On the death of his only son the property went to a nephew, and the whole has been dissipated.

The house was some time afterwards purchased by another Mr. Blewett, wholly unconnected with the former, who acquired a considerable fortune in the war: that has also entirely disappeared, and the house has passed into other hands.

Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, Commissary to the States of Holland, resided here during a long life, although he was originally of Penzance; and here was born his son Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, junior, well known throughout England as an active Member of Parliament, as a man of talent and of great liberality, commensurate to his almost unexampled success in commerce.

From Marazion also have sprung the family of Cole.

Captain Francis Cole would have risen to the most elevated station in the Navy if he had not been cut off by an early death.

Captain Christopher Cole most justly acquired the highest military reputation by his capture of Banda in the East Indies, with a force several times less numerous than the garrison which he overcame; and, having taken the place with such an union of courage, determined resolution, and of prudence, as would rival the exploits of chivalry, he acquired still greater glory by extending a truly heroic courtesy to the vanquished, protecting them in their persons, in their properties, and in the exercise of their religious and of their civil rights. Having settled, in consequence of his marriage, in Glamorganshire, he has had the honour of representing that county in Parliament.

The Reverend John Cole, D.D. attained the high situation of Rector of Exeter College, Oxford.

And the younger brother, Dr. Samuel Cole, is now Chaplain-general to the Navy.

The principal inhabitant at present is Mr. William Cornish, a very respectable merchant and a magistrate for the county; he married a daughter of the elder Captain Cole, and has a numerous family.

Treveneage seems to have been the principal seat in this parish. A branch of the Godolphins resided here, having acquired the property by a marriage with the heiress of an ancient family denominated Goverigon or Gavrigan, whose principal residence was in St. Colomb.

Katherine Godolphin, daughter and heiress of Francis Godolphin, Esq. of Treveneage, married John St. Aubyn, of Clowance, Esq. and was buried at St. Hilary, on the 13th of March 1662, as appears from an inscription on a monument to her memory in the church.

The barton of Treveneage was however sold, and after passing through Robinson, it was purchased, about the year 1665, by the family of Tredenham, of Tredenham, or Tredinham, in Probus.

Mr. Joseph Tredinham was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1665, and was knighted. One of his daughters, and eventually his coheiress, married Scobell of Menigwins, in St. Austell; and from a coheiress of Scobell this barton, together with an extensive manor, descended to the Hawkins’s of Pennance, and from them to the late Sir Christopher Hawkins, of Trewithan in Probus, and of Trewinnard in St. Erth.

Tregembo, or Tregember, bears an appearance of considerable antiquity. Mr. Lysons says that it belonged to the family of Grosse, and that it passed by sales, through King to Penneck, in the year 1684.

The Pennecks were originally of Trescow in Breage, and advanced themselves in the world by the stewardship and patronage of the Godolphins. One of this family, the Reverend John Penneck, who died in 1724, was Chancellor of Exeter, and would probably have been advanced much higher in the church if the Marlborough and Godolphin administration had remained longer in the possession of power.

On this gentleman’s decease, without children, his property devolved on the Reverend John Penneck, vicar of Gulval, who married ―――― Wroughton, and left two sons and two daughters; John, who succeeded him in the living of Gulval, and Charles, bred to the law, but who quitted that profession for the militia during the American War.

Mr. John Penneck died in 1789, and his brother in 1801; they were succeeded by their two sisters, who were, Catherine, married to the Reverend William Borlase, son and eventually sole heir of the Reverend Walter Borlase, LL.D. of Castlehorneck; and Ann, married to John Bingham Borlase, M.D. who had the honour of bestowing his early medical education on Sir Humphrey Davy. Each of these sisters left an only daughter. Ann, daughter of the eldest, married to the Reverend Mr. Peters; and Ann, daughter of the second, married to Captain Pascoe.

The manor of Tregurtha also belonged to the Pennecks, having been purchased in the early part of the last century; but this manor, together with a large portion of their other possessions, were sold by the two last brothers. This manor was bought jointly by Mr. Carne, of Penzance, and the late Mr. Thomas Grylls, of Helston. Tregembo still belongs to the two ladies.

Ennis, usually called Ninnis, was for some time a gentleman’s seat, although it is now become a mere farm. Mr. Humphrey Millett, the last resident gentleman, had been a member of Exeter College. He married Mary, daughter of Mr. Sandys, of Helston, and dying early in life left two daughters his coheiresses. The eldest daughter, Mary, married Thomas Grylls, Esq. and the second daughter, Grace, married Charles Short, Esq. of Devonshire, Clerk of the Rules in the Court of King’s Bench, and both have families. The widow married secondly George Trework, Esq. of Penzance.

Trevarthen has the appearance of a place respectable in former times. The freehold belongs to the Duke of Leeds, as heir of the Godolphins; but it was held for a long period of years on a lease for lives by one of the numerous branches of the family of Davies, now all extinct.

This parish has abounded in mines, especially in the manors of Treveneage and Tregurtha; but the most remarkable in its consequences was a mine called Whele Fortune, on Trowall or Truthwell, belonging to Lord Godolphin, as it enabled Mr. Lemon to move on the great scale which afterwards so eminently distinguished him; as it laid the foundation of Mr. Blewett’s large fortune; and brought forward Captain Dewen, whose fortune descended on two daughters, one married to the Rev. George Borlase, Fellow of All Souls, and son of the historian; the other married to Mr. Keir, a gentleman in the profession of medicine.

The church is situated on a commanding elevation, and would be an imposing object throughout the whole neighbourhood, if it were not disfigured by an insignificant spire.

The church and churchyard contain several monuments to the Godolphins, Pennecks, Milletts, Blewetts, &c.

On a stone, now made the floor of a seat in the south-east corner of St. Hilary church, is the following curious inscription to one of the Godolphins.

Aquila quæ volucres cœli supereminet omnes, Et Caper e summis qui carpit montibus herbam, Quique tuum referens _Godolphin_ nomen in undis Delphinus, piscesque regit, cursuque fatigat; Hæc bene te natum proavis insignia monstrant Per cœlum, et terras, et vasta per æquora claris, Et tua te virtus cunctis majoribus æquat. Sic transit Gloria Mundi! Et quæ modo candida Nix est, Phœbo splendente, liquescit. Et quæ modo florida vigent Per amœnos Lilia campos, Citius quam dicere possis, Aspectu Solis eoi Marcescunt; sic violentis Fatorum legibus omnes Cedunt, juvenesque senesque, Sic qui modo floruit inter Primos, generosus, et inter Claros; quos vexit honoris Summi ad fastigia virtus; Nulli pietate secundus, _Godolphin_ morte peremptus, Fatis succumbit iniquis. Humana hinc discite quàm Vita incerta et brevis! Sic transit Gloria Mundi!

In connection with the church, one of those casual coincidences may be noticed, which continued to be remembered and cited for more than a century in this parish, and to obtain belief or discredit, as an interposition of Providence, according to the religious or the political opinions of those who heard or related it.

It seems that a Mr. Palmer held this living previously to the Restoration of King Charles II. and that he was one among the two thousand, who in obedience to the dictates of their consciences, from the fear of disgrace, or from political motives, refused, “In the church, chapel, or place of public worship belonging to their benefices or promotions, upon some Lord’s Day before the Feast of St. Bartholomew, which should be in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, openly, publickly, and solemnly to read the morning and evening prayer, appointed to be read by and according to the Book of Common Prayer, at the times thereby appointed, and after such reading thereof, and openly and publickly before the congregation there assembled, to declare their unfeigned assent to the use of all things in the said book contained and prescribed.” See the Act of Uniformity, anno decimo tertio et quarto Caroli II. ch. 4.

In consequence of this refusal the two thousand incumbents were ejected without any provision or allowance whatever, so that many of them perished from actual want. Several thus ejected without doubt continued the exercise of their sacred functions among such as were desirous or willing to assist at them; and for this offence Mr. Palmer was called before magistrates appointed by the new government, who ordered his commitment to prison, when the ejected vicar is said to have addressed Mr. Robinson, of Treveneage, one of the magistrates, in the words of Micaiah, “If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.”

Within a short time after this vaticination Mr. Robinson met his death by the goring of his own bull.

It would be inexcusable in me if I were to leave this parish without noticing the late Vicar, from whose kindness I received information whenever it was asked, in those sciences which have afforded me uninterrupted entertainment and delight throughout the whole continuance of a protracted life.

The Reverend Malachy Hitchins was born in the parish of Gwenap, about the year 1740; possessed of hereditary claims to mathematical attainments as the nephew of Mr. Thomas Martyn, well known by his excellent map of Cornwall published about that time; a map then equalling if not surpassing the best county maps of England, and still almost unrivalled for minute and accurate topography, including the boundaries of parishes――the work of fifteen years labour.

I have not succeeded in acquiring any information respecting Mr. Hitchins in his early years, with the exception of a general report of his being then distinguished by the ability, accuracy, and diligence conspicuous in his future years.

These qualities, and probably his near connection with Mr. Martyn, recommended Mr. Hitchins as an assistant to Mr. Benjamin Donne in constructing a map of Devonshire, an occupation decisive of his future life, for at Bideford he became acquainted with Miss Hockin, whom he married, and acquiring with her an accession of fortune, he proceeded to Oxford, and became a member of Exeter College, with the view of obtaining orders. But Mr. Hitchins possessed talents and acquirements that could not admit of his remaining undistinguished at a place of learning. He was soon noticed by the mathematicians, and recommended to the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal, to assist him at the Royal Observatory; and when Doctor Maskelyne went to St. Helena, in the year 1761, to observe the transit of Venus, and to ascertain, if it were possible, the parallax of Sirius, Mr. Hitchins had the whole care of the Observatory entrusted to his hands.

Another object of Doctor Maskelyne’s voyage, and one eventually of by far the greatest importance, was to prove from actual experience that Longitudes at sea might be derived from observations on the moon. Tables founded on the theory of gravitation and of inertia, as laid down by SIR ISAAC NEWTON, had then been constructed by Tobias Mayer, of Gottingen, and communicated to Dr. Maskelyne in manuscript, representing the moon’s place at all times in the heavens, within narrow limits; and the admirable instrument invented by Mr. John Hadley, by rendering the apparent contact of two objects, independent of all agitations of the instrument itself, enabled observers to ascertain the distance of the moon from the sun, or from a star, almost as accurately on board a ship as on the solid land. With these assistances the determination of a ship’s longitude became an easy problem. The moon is converted into the hand of a clock, indicating by its distance from a particular star, the time at Greenwich Observatory made the first meridian. This distance is ascertained by Hadley’s sextant, and after applying certain corrections for parallax and refraction, the time at Greenwich becomes known. The actual time at the place of observation is then determined from the altitude of some celestial body, and thus differences in the longitude required.

Doctor Maskelyne having fully verified the complete practicability of this method, procured through the Board of Longitude the publication of Mayer’s tables, accompanied by a reward or premium, under an Act of Parliament, to his widow, of three thousand pounds; and soon afterwards the same eminent and patriotic astronomer devised and executed a work absolutely necessary for enabling ordinary persons to avail themselves of this important discovery, namely the Nautical Almanac, in which the sun’s place is accurately given for the noon of each day, the place of the moon for noon and midnight of each day, and the true angular distance of the moon from the sun, and from certain stars for every third hour of the day and of the night throughout the year, together with the equation of time, the places of the planets, &c.: thus saving to observers perhaps ninety-nine parts out of a hundred of the calculations that were previously indispensible.

The labour of such a work must obviously require many hands, especially as without great care in constructing the original calculation, and in correcting the press, it would prove worse than useless. To ensure this accuracy, the most important parts were performed in duplicate by different persons, and the whole carefully collated and verified by the superior officer, called the Comparer, under the ultimate superintendence of the Astronomer Royal himself.

In constructing the first Nautical Almanac that appeared, for 1767, Mr. Hitchins performed the office of a computer; but for all the others, up to the period of his decease in 1809, he most advantageously, not only for this country but for the whole world, executed the office of comparer.

The Lunar tables are now carried to a degree of perfection far exceeding those of Mayer, and the Nautical Almanac has been enlarged and improved; but the glory of devising the work remains with Doctor Maskelyne, and perhaps scarcely a less degree of glory with Mr. Hitchins, for having conducted it with unrivalled accuracy for a period extending through so great a number of years.

During his residence at Greenwich Mr. Hitchins had received holy orders; and, as the office of comparer did not confine him to any particular place, he removed to Exeter, and soon obtained the vicarage of Hennock, to hold for a minor. He did not fail however of attracting attention from the clergy of the Cathedral, and about the year 1774 Bishop Keppell collated him to St. Hilary, which had lapsed in consequence of a dispute between two of the numerous patrons claiming unsettled turns to the presentation. Here Mr. Hitchins resided respected and admired till the close of his life, on the 28th of March 1809; having been distinguished by the succeeding Bishop of Exeter, Dr. John Ross, who conferred on him the adjoining vicarage of Gwinear.

Mr. Hitchins had four sons and one daughter.

The eldest, Richard, was a Fellow of Exeter College, and died unmarried on a college living.

The second, Thomas, also a clergyman, married Miss Emma Grenfell, of Marazion; he served for many years a church near Plymouth, and has left several children.

The third, Malachy, inherited his father’s genius with his name. He filled the office for some time that his father had occupied in the Royal Observatory; but ultimately preferring the law, he settled at Marazion, where he died at an early age in December 1802.

The fourth son, Fortescue, was also in the law, and settled at St. Ive’s. He distinguished himself as a poet and as a writer, having taken a considerable share in compiling a History of Cornwall; but his life was also restricted to a narrow space.

The only daughter, Josepha, married William Millett, Esq. originally of Gurlin in St. Erth, and is now a widow with several sons.

Mr. Hitchins had his time too much occupied to allow of his composing any considerable work. He made one communication however to the Royal Society, and another to the Society of Antiquaries; besides these there are various minor publications, some bearing his name, and others the signature of Vatum Ultimus, alluding to his which is not uncommon in Cornwall, is probably derived not immediately from the Hebrew Prophet, but from St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, who is said to have died in the arms of St. Bernard in the year 1148.

Mr. Hitchins was succeeded by the Reverend Thomas Pascoe, the present vicar.

The Parish Feast is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to the 13th of January, the day of the patron Saint.

St. Hilary measures 3228 statute acres.

And here it is right to state that all the measurements of parishes were made by Mr. Hitchins, from the boundaries laid down in his uncle’s map, and that they are copied from a manuscript which he had the kindness to give me in Oct. 1805.

Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 3322 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 676 16 0

Population, {in 1801,| in 1811,| in 1821,| in 1831, { 990 | 1248 | 1558 | 1728 giving an increase of 74½ per cent. in 30 years.

THE GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is similarly constituted to the adjacent parishes of St. Erth and Gwinear, being all situated on a line running north-east and south-west, between the large masses of granite of the Land’s End and of Cambrea.

St. Michael’s Mount, adjoining the shore of this parish, is an object of great attention to the geologist as well as to the tourist. It is composed almost entirely of granite, having only two small patches of slate, one on the western and the other on the eastern side; at these two places, and more particularly at the latter, the junction of the granite and of the slate may be seen, the slate being intersected with numerous granite veins. The granite of the Mount is not so large-grained as that of the Land’s End; but the structure of the rock is no where better displayed than at this place on the southern side; where the whole mass is distinctly divided into large quadrangular blocks, and is traversed in a direction parallel to the divisions, by quartz veins, which contain crystals of mica, of apatite, and of topaz, and also the ores of tin, copper, and wolfram, the latter of which is the most abundant.

One most important geological fact is here beautifully exhibited. That the mineral composition of granite is altered in the vicinity of quartz veins, whether they are metalliferous or otherwise; approaching these veins the granite becomes more and more siliceous, until at length it gradually passes into the quartz, which forms the body (or matrix as it is called) of the veins. A fact difficult to reconcile with the generally received opinion, which assumes all veins to have been originally fissures, subsequently filled up from above or beneath.

[6] William of Worcester.

HILL, NORTH.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Lewanack, east Lezant, south and west Linkynhorne. Under what district this parish was taxed in Domesday Roll I know not; however, in the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, “Ecclesia de Northill in decanatu de Estwellshire” was taxed £6; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, £36. 6_s._ 8_d._ The patronage is in Darley; the incumbent Darley. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, £211. 12_s._

Trebatha, in this parish, which after the English-Cornish may be interpreted a town of baths, or washing fountains, otherwise the town of clubs or bats, is the dwelling of an old family of gentlemen surnamed Spour. The present possessor Henry Spour, Gent. that married Rhodes, and giveth for his arms, Gules, on a chevron Or, a rose of the first between two mullets or spur rowells Sable pierced. Now Charles Grylls, Esq. married the daughter and heir of Spour, relict of Bellot, of Bochin. She surviving her husband, without issue, as I am informed, is married to her cousin Rodd, and to him and his heirs hath conveyed all her lands.

Batt-in, Batt-en, in this parish, from which place was denominated an old family of gentlemen surnamed Battin, whose only daughter and heir, in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, was married to one Mr. Vincent, a barrister-at-law, that came down the Western Circuit with the judges, and so together with herself brought this barton into his family.

The late possessor, John Vincent, Gent. sometime Fellow of All Souls College in Oxford, originally descended, as I am informed, from the Vincents of Stoke Dabernon in Surrey, and giveth the same arms, viz. Azure, three quatrefoils Argent. His younger brother, Mr. Matthias Vincent, was bound or bred an apprentice with a merchant at London, and having but a small fortune to begin trade with, yet for his care and industry was so taken notice of in London that he was sent by the East India Company as one of their factors to Surat in the Mogul’s country, where by his skill in factorage and merchandize, but chiefly by marriage with a Portugal merchant’s daughter and heir, he obtained a great quantity of riches, goods, and chattels; whereupon he left his servile trade of a factor to others, and returned with his family and riches safely into England, temp. James II. by whom he was knighted, and in one of his Parliaments was chosen a burgess for the town of Lestwithell, and served in that capacity for some time, till an unlucky accident happened between him and his wife, or lady, who upon some real or feigned grounds grew jealous of his familiarity with another, privately eloped from him, carrying with her great quantities of his gold and jewels. He left issue by her two sons, lately living, though, as I am told, this estate for the most part is spent or consumed.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not made any addition to the history of this parish.

THE EDITOR.

By far the principal place in this parish is Trebartha, now for three descents the residence of the very respectable family of Rodd.

Mrs. Grylls bequeathed her property to Mr. Francis Rodd, of Herefordshire, a Captain in the Guards, not as her relation but as her intended third husband. This gentleman was succeeded by his son Francis Rodd, for many years Colonel of the Cornwall Militia. He married one of the three coheiresses of Heale and Paynten, and left three sons, Francis Heale Rodd, Esq. the present possessor of Trebartha; the Rev. Edward Rodd, D.D. and Rector of St. Just in Roseland, heretofore Fellow of Exeter College, and Proctor of the University of Oxford in the year 1802; and Sir John Tremayne Rodd, an Admiral. Also two daughters, Jane and Harriet, the latter married to Mr. Fursdon, of Devonshire.

Trebartha is in many respects worthy of being reckoned among the first places in Cornwall. The scenery, grand in other respects, is rendered still more so by the addition of a mountain torrent; and the house has been greatly improved by the late proprietor and the present, who has chiefly resided there, highly respected as a magistrate, as a gentleman, and as the benefactor of his neighbourhood. Mr. Rodd was a Fellow of All Souls, and during the war he served, as his father had done before him, in the defence of his country.

Mr. Lysons says that the Lord of the Manor of Treveniel, which was passed from the Carews to the Spours, and from them to Rodd, claims by immemorial custom of the Mayor of Launceston the service of holding his stirrup whenever he shall mount his horse in that town in presence of the Duke of Cornwall; a claim, however, difficult to prove by any exercise of it, even within legal memory, and now rendered obsolete by disusage if that effect is ever produced.

The presentation to the living is in Mr. Rodd. The church is large, consisting of three entire ailes with a lofty tower, and placed on a commanding eminence. The interior is adorned with several splendid monuments of the present and former families resident at Trebartha.

The present rector is the Rev. E. Trelawny, instituted in 1828.

North-hill measures 6,815 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 5102 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 531 8 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 782 | 803 | 1089 | 1155 giving an increase of nearly 14¾ per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The western half of this parish is situated on granite, and the eastern half on slate belonging to the porphyritic series. The rocks of both resemble those of the corresponding parts of Alternum.

HILL, SOUTH.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Linkynhorne, east Stoke Climsland, south Killaton, west St. Ive. At the time of the Domesday-tax this parish, I suppose, was rated under the jurisdiction of Stoke Climsland or Trewollea, or Trewoolea. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester aforesaid, 1294, Ecclesia de Sut Hill was rated cxiii_s._ iv_d._; in Wolsey’s Inquisition £38. The patronage in the King or Duke of Cornwall; the incumbent Trelawny, Dean of Exeter; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 139_l._ 4_s._

Quere, whether Killington Church be not a daughter to or consolidated into this church?

Mana-ton, in this parish, gave name and origin to an old family of gentlemen, from thence surnamed de Manaton; the present possessor, Francis Manaton, Esq. Receiver-general of her Majesty’s Land Tax, that married Huckmore, and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend Sable, three mullets of the Field.

TONKIN.

It is so called from its situation in respect to North Hill, and its church lying on a high hill. The patronage in Trelawny. The incumbent Mr. Hele Trelawny, who succeeded his kinsman Edward Trelawny, Dean of Exeter.

Manor of Kellyland. This is the chief estate in the parish, it is called Conylond by Mr. Carew, through mistake, in one place, as he rightly names it in another, and is there said to be held by the Baron of Stafford.

The manor of Manaton, which I take to signify Stony Hill, as corrupted from main, a stone, and doon, a hill, has been ever the seat, perhaps from before the Conquest, of the family of that name, though the head of it Francis Manaton, Esq. has lately removed to Kilworthy, near Tavistock, which fell to him on the death of his kinsman Henry Manaton, Esq. of that place, and of Harwood in Calstock. Since his removal the house here, which was ruinous, has been left to fall, which I should scarce have noticed had I not observed the old arms of this family painted on glass in the hall there, Sable, a saltire Vairy between twelve crosses pattee fitchy Or, within a border Argent; which they have changed for, Argent, a bend Sable charged with three mullets of the Field, their present bearing.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Whitaker, in a note, suggests Manach Don, or Ton, the Monk’s House, as the derivation for Manaton.

Mr. Lysons says that two thirds of the great manor of Calliland or Kalliland, passed from the baronial family of Stafford, by a coheiress, to Willoughby Lord Brook, and are now vested in Lord Clinton; the other third was in the Crown, and was granted by King Richard the Third to John Coryton, Esq. of Newton; that it belonged in 1620 to the Glanvilles, and is now vested in Richard Strode, Esq. and that Manaton is become the property of Sir William Call. Lord Clinton is patron of the rectory; which was called St. Sampson’s de Southill, in honour no doubt of St. Sampson already mentioned, a native of Monmouthshire, and afterwards a Bishop in France.

The church is large, and placed on an elevated situation, and contains memorials of the Manaton family.

The Rev. John Trefusis, instituted in 1802, is the present rector.

Southill measures 3089 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 2622 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 507 10 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 447 | 466 | 534 | 530 giving an increase of 18½ per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DOCTOR BOASE.

The eastern part of this parish nearly touches the granite of Hingston Down. Like the adjoining parish of Callington, its rocks are felspathic; and they are intersected by beds of porphyry, and by numerous metalliferous veins. The rocks of the other parts of the parish are rather anomalous, being such as occur between the porphyritic and the calcareous series.

JACOBSTOW.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Stratton, and hath upon the north Poundstock, east St. Mary Wick, west St. Gennis, south Otterham.

In the Domesday Tax, 1087, this parish passed under the jurisdiction of Pen-fon, or Pen-foun. In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester, 1294, Ecclesia de Jacobstow in decanatu de Trigmajorshire was valued vi_l._; in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum 19_l._; the patronage in Elliot; the incumbent Holden; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 113_l._ 14_s._

Pen-fon, now Penfowne aforesaid, i. e. head well, spring of water or fountain, gave name and original to an old family of gentlemen surnamed de Penfowne, who have lived here in good fame and reputation for many generations.

TONKIN.

I take St. Jacob to be the patron Saint of this parish, and not the patriarch Jacob, as some have imagined.

The termination Stowe comes from the Saxon, and means a home or a dwelling.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Lysons mentions some few particulars respecting this parish. He says that Sawacott, or Southcot, is the sole village in the parish; and that a manor called Penhallam, having belonged to a Sir John Stowell in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, has passed through various hands, and that it had been finally purchased about the year 1802 by the Rev. Charles Dayman.

The barton of Berry Court has its mansion surrounded by a moat, indicative of ancient importance, but nothing seems to be known of its history.

In Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses may be found the following account of a native of this parish:

Degorie Wheare was born at Jacobstow in Cornwall; retired to the habitation of the Muses called Broadgate Hall (Pembroke College) in the beginning of the year 1592, aged 19; took the degrees in Arts, that of Master being completed in 1600; elected probationer fellow of Exeter College; and six years afterwards leaving that house, travelled into several countries beyond the seas, by which he obtained as well learning as experience.

At his return he was entertained by the Lord Chandois, and by him respected and exhibited to. After his death our author with his wife retired to Gloucester Hall, where Doctor Hawley, the Principal, demised to him lodgings; and there he became so well acquainted with Mr. Thomas Allen, that by his endeavours the learned Cambden made him his First Reader of his History Lecture which he founded in the University.

Soon after he was made Principal of the Hall, the which with his Lecture he kept to his dying day; and was esteemed by some a learned and genteel man, and by others a Calvinist.

Having entered at Oxford in the year 1592, aged, as his friend states, nineteen years, the date of his birth must be 1573; and it appears from the Fasti of Gloucester Hall, now Worcester College, that he died in 1647, aged therefore 74. His chief works are,

Prælectiones Hiemales de Ratione et Methodo Legendi Historias Civiles et Ecclesiasticas; this work has gone through several editions, and been translated into English.

Oratio Auspicalis ubi Cathedram Historicam primum ascendit.

Parentatio Historica――Commemoratio Vitæ et Martis Gulielmi Camdeni, cum Imaginis Camdenianæ Dedicatione.

Lord St. German’s (Eliot) is patron of the living, and the present rector is the Rev. John Glanville, instituted in 1822.

Jacobstow measures 4,206 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 2098 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 270 6 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 432 | 489 | 571 | 638 giving an increase of 47⅔ per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This parish is entirely situated on the Dunstone rocks, mentioned under the heads of Boyton and St. Gennys. To the cursory observer few opportunities offer themselves here for studying the nature of the rocks; but perhaps many quarries or similar excavations may be known to those who are resident.

ILLOGAN.

HALS.

Is situate in the Hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the north the Irish sea, west Gwithian, south Camburne, east St. Agnes.

In the inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Illogani was valued to first fruits £8. In Wolsey’s inquisition 1521, by the same name, £22. 7_s._ 5_d._; the patronage in Basset, the incumbent Basset; and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, by the same name, £191. 16_s._

The lordship of Ty-hiddy, alias Ty-lud-y, in this parish, hath from the time of Henry the Third, how long before I know not, been the seat of the ancient and knightly family of the Bassets, whose first ancestor came out of Normandy with William the Conqueror 1066, and was posted in those parts a soldier under Robert Earl of Morton and Cornwall, of whose posterity (an officer or soldier 17th Edward II.) was William Basset, who was then possessed of £40 _per annum_ in lands and rents in knight service. Carew’s Surv. Corn. p. 51. William Basset, of Ty-hyddy, 3 Henry IV. held in that place and Trevalga, one knight’s fee of Morton, (idem liber); John Bassett was Sheriff of Cornwall 28 Henry VI. when John Chudleigh was Sheriff of Devon; John Basset was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Henry VII. when Peter Edgecomb was Sheriff of Devon; John Basset, Knight, was Sheriff of Cornwall 13 Henry VIII. when William Courtenay was Sheriff of Devon. The present possessor, Francis Basset, Esq. that married the relict of Sir William Gerrard, Knight, and after her decease Pendarves, of Roscrowe family; his father Lucy, the inheritrix of Heale, of Bradinge; his grandfather, Sir Francis Basset, Anna, daughter of Sir Jonathan Trelawney, Knight. Sir Francis Basset’s two younger brothers were bred soldiers; and in the unhappy wars between King Charles I. and his Parliament, were, for their valour and good conduct in his service, knighted, but by the unfortunate end and success of that Prince and his wars, afterwards lived and died under the pressure of misfortune.

And here I take it worth remembrance that Sir Francis Basset, Knight, aforesaid, in the beginning of the reign of King Charles II. in the morning about ten o’clock on Ty-hyddy downs, himself or his falconer let fly a goshawk or tassell to a heathpolt or heathcock, which they had there sprung or started on the wing, which birds of game and prey in a short while flew eastwards, over St. Agnes parish, and quite out of sight, so that they despaired of ever finding them again; but, the next day, before twelve o’clock, to their wonder and amazement, a person sent from the Mayor of Camelford, brought both to Ty-hyddy to Sir Francis; the hawk well and alive, with his varvells on his legs, whereon his owner’s name aforesaid was inscribed, but the heathpolt was dead; which messenger gave this further account of this rare accident, that the day before, as near as could be computed, about a quartes or half an hour after ten o’clock in the morning, the said hawk, in the midst of Camelford town, struck down his game dead upon the spot; so that by computation their flight straight forward, only in half an hour’s space, was at least thirty-two Cornish miles.

For what reason Mr. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, gives such a slighting relation of this famous family, I know not; his words be these: p. 154, Beyond Nants Mr. Basset possesseth Ty-hyddy, who married Godolphin, his father Coffyn, and giveth for his arms as aforesaid.

In this parish, at ――――, liveth Reginald An-gove, Gent. i. e. Reginald the Smith, a sirname assumed in memory of his first ancestor, who was by trade and occupation a smith.

And of this sort of sirname in England, thus speaks Verstegan,

From whence came smith, all be it Knight or ’Squire? But from the smith that forgeth in the fire.

This Reginald Angove is that subtle crafty tinner, whom common fame reports to have gotten a considerable estate by labouring, adventuring, and dealing in tin, both in the mines below and blowing houses above ground, by indirect arts and practices; for which, about the 8th of William and Mary, he was indicted before the jury of tinners (whereof the writer of these lines was summoned for one) amongst other things, for putting hard heads of false metal and lead in the midst of slabs of tin, melted and cast in his blowing-house, in testimony whereof some pieces or slabs thereof was cut in pieces, and the fallacy detected; whereupon the Grand Jury returned the bill of indictment, indorsed, Billa Vera. But on his trial there was given a verdict of acquittal.

_Carne Bray._ Upon the top of a very high rocky mountain in this parish, which takes a large view over the land from the north to the south sea, that is to say, from St. George’s channel to the British ocean, and also towards the Land’s End and Scilly islands, stands Castle Carne Bray, erected long before the art of guns was invented. It is situate upon the summit of a large, lofty, and tremendous rock, built four-square of lime and stone, about forty feet high and twenty feet square; wherein, as appears from the beam holes, windows, and chimneys, were two planchins, besides the leads of the top thereof, though now there are not to be seen either leads or beams, only the walls, windows, chimneys, and garrets thereof are still extant and uniform, which, maugre all the force of wind and weather, are likely to stand firm till the final consummation of all things. It hath but one way of access or entrance into it, through a little hole artificially cut in the rock, under the foundation of its wall, about four feet high; the other parts thereof being surrounded with inaccessible rocks, carnes, and downfalls. Some such castle or fortification Cæsar mentions in his Commentary at Uxelodunum, for Uchell-dun-en, i. e. the lofty fort or fortress [in Gallia]. I take this castle to be the Watch Tower mentioned by Orosius, opposite to such another in Gallicia; which Mr. Carew and Mr. Camden conjecture stood near St. Ive’s. Near this castle, on the top of this mountain, are divers circular walls or fortifications, made of rocks and unwrought stones, after the British manner (see Gonwallo); and a never intermitting spring, or fountain of water, for the use of the inhabitants thereof. Probably this castle was built by some of the Brays of Cornwall, or those that came into England with William the Conqueror of that name, otherwise so called from the natural circumstances of the place, Carne.

In this parish also I take it stands another mountain, though of less magnitude, called Carne-Kye; but this place is much more famous and notable for the great quantities of tin that have been for many ages, and are still found and brought to land from the bottoms thereof, than for its appellation, to the great enriching its lords of the soil and adventurers.

There is no tradition or memory of the person who built this costly and tremendous castle aforesaid, or tower; or for what use it was made other than to dwell in it, comparatively above the middle region of the air in those parts, more than what is expressed in the name thereof, Bray’s Castle. Undoubtedly whatever human creature it was that dwelt in it and possessed the same, he was a person that had unparalleled confidence in the strength thereof, for his safety and protection, such as never any person after his quitting ever attempted to enjoy for the pleasure of his five senses.

TONKIN.

Tehidy; this lordship of Tehidy has been for many ages in the possession of the ancient, famous, and knightly family of Bassets, whose ancestors came out of France with William the Conqueror, and were posted among the standing troops in this county under Robert Earl of Morton.

Most certainly they were possessed of this lordship some short while after the Conquest; and from hence have sprung many noble and famous men in their generation.

Then, after copying Mr. Hals, Mr. Tonkin goes on to say,

At Carnekye is a considerable tin-work, chiefly pertaining to the Bassets, out of which has been raised above a hundred thousand pounds worth of tin, to the no small profit of the adventurers and of that family.

At Nants or Nance (the valley) was the dwelling of an old and well-regarded family of gentlemen, the Trengoves of Warlegan, the name from Gove, a smith.

These gentlemen have returned to their ancient habitation of Trengoff, in the parish of Warlegan; and the present possessors are denominated Nance from the place, giving for their arms, Argent, a cross Sable.

Mr. Tonkin then adds,

Tehidy. The first owner that I meet with of this noble lordship was Dunstanville; and then Basset, who was his grandson or nephew. Reginald de Dunstanville was a Baron of the Realm in the time of King Henry the First, and I take him to be the person meant in Testa de Neville; ever since which this lordship has been in this ancient and noted family. I shall only add, that the family now residing here, are descended from George Basset, the third son of Sir John Basset, of Umberly in Devonshire, and of Tehidy, who had Tehidy for his portion.

Leland saith, “Basset hath a right goodly lordship called Tehidy by the Cornish. There was some time a park, now defaced.” And well he might call it a right goodly lordship, since it hath the advowsons of three large parishes, this parish, Camborne, and Redruth, with the royalties of wrecks, &c. thereto belonging.

The present lord of the manor is John Pendarves Bassett, Esq. a minor, and at present a Gentleman Commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford, who is heir in expectance to his mother of all the estate of Pendarves of Roscrow, and is likely to come into the estate of the greatest of his ancestors in this county, by means of this accession, and of a rich copper mine called the Pool, within this manor, which has been and is still productive of tin and copper very rich in the ore.

The arms of Basset are, Or, three bars wavy Gules; but sometimes these bars are Dancette and the field Argent, as they are painted in the church windows of Camborne and Redruth.

The castle and park wall are still standing; and I have been informed by several old men, particularly by the late Mr. Udy West, of Redruth, that all the rocky grounds under Carnbray Castle, and from thence to Porth-Treth, were covered with stout trees in their remembrance; so that squirrels (of which there were many) could leap from one tree to the other all the way. These were mostly destroyed in the Civil Wars, and the rest were cut down by the old Lady Basset, who had it in jointure, so that now there is not the least sign of any trees ever having grown there.

THE EDITOR.

All the attempts at etymology in relation to this parish have been omitted, on the ground of their not bearing even the slightest resemblance to probability.

It has been conjectured that Il-luggan may have some reference to St. Luke, as the parish feast takes place on the nearest Sunday to St. Luke’s day, October the 18th. But Luggan, indicating an uncultivated or uninclosed tract of ground, would seem to bear a near relation to the state of this district at no remote period.

Mr. Whitaker adheres to Saint Illuggan on account of the parish being designated as Ecclesia Sancti Illogani by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester in 1294; and by Cardinal Wolsey. It has been already remarked that many of the missionaries from the learned and zealous Convents of Ireland, have left no other trace of their existence than the names of parishes where they are usually honoured as Saints; in the sense probably of Holy, and without implying the technical deification of the Church of Rome, borrowed from ancient Mythology. Saint Illuggan may have been one of those who converted the Celts of Cornwall; but in the total absence even of tradition, this must be a mere conjecture, and the name does not seem to bear any analogy to others established by unquestionable authority.

Every attempt to decipher Tehidy has utterly failed. Mr. Angowe, who has been brought forward by Mr. Hals in a manner not likely to acquire for him much respect from posterity, resided at Trevenson, and left a son, Mr. Abel Angowe. This gentleman was for some time a student at Oxford, but ultimately preferred the law as an attorney. He married Jane, daughter of Mr. Henry Phillips, of Carnequidden in Gulval, who lived but a very short time; and Mr. Angowe died in consequence of a fall from his horse about the year 1767. His large property became divided among a great many distant relations, and has almost entirely disappeared. The Angowes held Trevenson on lease for lives; the freehold being in the families of Basset and Praed. Mr. Thomas Kivell, steward to Lord Dunstanville, built a very excellent house there about the year 1800, which has been still further improved by his successor in the stewardship, Mr. Reynolds.

Menwinnion existed for centuries as a second house and appendage to Tehidy; but it is now reduced in size, and converted to a farm.

Few parishes in Cornwall have flourished in an equal degree with Illogan. It has abounded in the most productive mines of copper; the dense population consequent to these great sources of employment has covered the tracts formerly waste, with houses, with gardens, and with cultivated fields; and a safe harbour has been constructed at Portreath, for the reception of vessels engaged in the reciprocal trade of exporting annually more than a hundred thousand tons of copper ore to Swansea, and of bringing to Cornwall a still larger quantity of coal.

And lastly, on the 25th of October 1809, when a jubilee was held all over England, on the epoch of King George the Third commencing the fiftieth year of his reign, Lord Dunstanville laid the first bar of an iron tram road, for extending far into the country the facilities afforded by this harbour and port, which has since been done; notwithstanding a most illiberal attempt by persons interested in the trade on the opposite coast, to convert a local Act of Parliament for improving turnpike roads, the sole object of which must be to render the conveyance of individuals and of property less expensive and more commodious, into the means of obstructing this great improvement. See the Journals of the House of Commons for the year 1817, and particularly on the 16th of May.

But these, and all other improvements in Illogan, and its general prosperity, are mainly owing to the continued residence, during six centuries, of one of the most distinguished among those families, which, having entered England in hostile array, assimilated themselves to its laws, its customs, and its institutions; and have been found, in all succeeding ages, the foremost defenders of its liberties and of its independence.

The family of BASSET appears to have taken root in various parts of its adopted country. Some branches were probably Barons from the earliest times, some attained that dignity in subsequent periods; others were distinguished in the law, and all in arms; and what must not be omitted, the signature of Basset is found in the great charters of our liberties, at the ratification of Magna Charta more than six hundred years ago.

Mr. Hals brings down the family of Tehidy to Mr. John Pendarves Basset, whom he leaves a Gentleman Commoner of Queen’s College, Oxford. This gentleman married Ann, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Edmund Prideaux, of Netherton in Devonshire, by Ann Hawkins, daughter of Mr. Philip Hawkins, of Pennance, and died of the small-pox in 1789, at the premature age of twenty-five. His brother, Mr. Francis Basset, then took possession of the estate; but, unexpectedly to all parties, the widow proved to be with child, and a son was born, who lived to be sixteen, when the uncle came a second time into possession. During this interval, the guardians of young Mr. Basset finished the splendid house at Tehidy, commenced by his father; but, notwithstanding this large expenditure, so great was the product of the mines, and so considerable were the rents of the estate, that Mrs. Basset is said to have acquired above a hundred thousand pounds from her son’s personal effects; all of which was naturally left by her among her own relations.

Mr. Francis Basset then settled principally at Tehidy; married Margaret, daughter of Sir John St. Aubyn, and represented Penryn in Parliament. Mr. Basset had three sisters; one married to the Rev. John Collins, afterwards presented to the rectory of Redruth; Lucy, the second daughter, married Mr. John Enys, of Enys, where his great grandson John Samuel Enys, is now the representative of that ancient family; the third married Nicholas Sweet Archer, of Trelaske and of Truro.

Mr. Basset died in 1769, having only completed his fifty-fourth year, leaving two sons, the eldest called after his own name; and John, who became a clergyman, held the family living of Illogan, married Miss Wingfield, and has left one son.

There were also four daughters; one married Mr. John Rogers, of Penrose, the other three remained single.

Having now arrived at the period when Sir Francis Basset, jun. came into possession of the family estate, the Editor would have found it his most pleasing task to trace an outline, however slight, of this distinguished person, in his splendid career through public and through private life. If the topics for his commendation had been in the least degree doubtful, the Editor would, indeed, have distrusted his own power of discrimination in reference to one, whom he is proud to claim, as the most liberal, generous, warm-hearted, and disinterested friend that it has been his fortune to obtain in the whole course of a pilgrimage through life, now exceeding sixty-seven years; but recent events have made recollections painful, which used to be associated with every thing most agreeable to the human mind.

Mr. Basset received the earlier part of his education at Harrow; but about the period of his father’s decease, he removed to Eton, where, in addition to useful and ornamental learning, these principles of honour and liberality identified with the character of a true English gentleman, are imbibed, practised, and wrought into habit at the early age when _sincerum est vas_. After which, one can truly say

You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.

After a residence of five years, from twelve to seventeen, at Eton, Mr. Basset became a member of King’s College, Cambridge; and after taking a degree, proceeded on the usual tour through France and Italy, accompanied by the Rev. William Sandys, who, being the son of a former Steward, had received his education for the express purpose of becoming tutor to Mr. John Pendarves Basset, who is stated above to have died at sixteen.

On his return to England, Mr. Basset found himself in possession of abilities, joined to energy of mind; of a large estate, accompanied by great accumulations from the mines; and in addition, of a local influence assuring his introduction to Parliament. Thus circumstanced, it was natural for him to take an active share in the politics of his country, especially at a time when party spirit had acquired a height never to be attained but in the midst of civil commotions.

The two first Princes of the German line had remained firmly united with the Whig aristocracy, to whom they mainly owed what was then denominated their legitimate or lawful crown, as distinguished from others acquired by conquest or usurpation, or derived from a succession founded on no other title than a mere continuance of possession; but the victory of Culloden having finally extinguished all hopes in those maintaining, or rather, one may suppose, professing to maintain, indefeasible hereditary right, and having apparently established the Whigs and the legitimate crown, proved nevertheless to be the cause of their separation, and of the removal of the Whig aristocracy from power at the next accession.

A mutual feeling naturally grew up, that time must transfer rights, popularly termed indefeasible, from one race to another, when no prospect of restoration remained; and the advisers of a young monarch might easily persuade him, that new friends, holding such tenets, would prove more acceptable supporters of their adopted crown than those who originally bestowed it on principles of limitation. Hence the parts imputed to Lord Bute and others, the re-action led by Mr. Wilkes, the letters of Junius, and the final separation of America.

From combinations of these and of other causes, Mr. Basset found Lord North first Minister of a Tory administration, and engaged in war with America, and with France, Spain, and Holland; he eagerly joined that party, and was subsequently hurried with it into the most fatal measure that had occurred up to that period, the well known and well remembered coalition.

But previously to this time, an event had taken place locally connected with Cornwall, equally honourable to him who conducted a large of body of miners to the relief of Plymouth, and to the miners themselves who volunteered their services.

In the latter part of August 1779, the combined fleets of France and Spain most unexpectedly steered into Plymouth Sound, and anchored nearer to the shore than the base of the present Breakwater.

After the splendid successes of the Seven Years’ War, marine fortifications had been wholly neglected as utterly useless, as never to be wanted in future times; but in the sixteenth year after the peace of 1763, the course of events demonstrated, that a naval force may be re-established with much less effect, and in a shorter space of time, than had been fondly imagined; and perhaps it also proved, that military navies are not necessarily based on those used for mercantile purposes.

A well-founded alarm spread immediately throughout the whole country, that Plymouth was incompetent to sustain an attack; when instantly the Cornish miners, worthy of the reputation long enjoyed by their predecessors, rushed from all directions, and offered themselves as volunteers to assist in defending Plymouth, and to exert their skill and labour in perfecting the works; and Mr. Basset, acting as his ancestors had done before, immediately placed himself at their head. Thus a large and efficient force was, in the course of a few days, added to our most important western arsenal.

On this occasion a patent was conferred on Mr. Basset, creating him a Baronet; a gift rendered honourable by the cause for which it was bestowed.

Since the nautical events of this period have attracted but little attention from general historians, as they failed of producing any decisive result, it may be well to state the most prominent facts.

The English fleet had been detained at home by various causes, and especially by the court martial which honourably acquitted Admiral Keppel. It sailed, however, at last to prevent a junction of the French and Spanish fleets, but that junction had been effected; and the combined fleet appeared in Plymouth Sound, while the fleet of England was cruizing near Ushant, or in the Bay of Biscay.

Plymouth was undoubtedly open to their attack; and the individual having the civil government of the dock-yard, is said to have actually deliberated about taking the last desperate measure, for depriving the enemy of every advantage to be derived from acquiring such stores as might be consumed by fire.

The Ardent, a sixty-four gun ship of the line, arrived from Portsmouth; and not suspecting that a hostile fleet could appear upon our coast, and still less occupy our harbours, continued its course into the midst of the ships, and became a prize; but not without making a brave resistance, and endeavouring to escape by running ashore.

The combined fleet, instead of attacking Plymouth, sailed in quest of the adverse fleet, having manifestly taken their original course with the view of giving battle; and what must be mentioned to their honour, not a single act of wanton hostility was committed on any part of the coast.

Every thing remained in suspense; watch and ward was established at all points. The gentlemen in every parish assembled, such as had arms, to take hasty instructions in military evolutions, while no one ventured to whisper the extent of his apprehensions to others, or even to avow them in his own mind; when, on the last day of August, both fleets appeared between the Land’s End and the Lizard. In the night, or in a fog, the fleets had passed each other; and the Editor remembers seeing the English fleet collected together in a close mass, making its way up the channel, to the amount of about forty sail of the line, pursued by the combined fleet of nearly double that number, in what is termed, line of battle a-head.

An action now seemed to be inevitable; but for some unknown cause, the combined fleet discontinued the pursuit and returned to Brest, while the English fleet anchored in Tor Bay.

On the dissolution of Parliament in 1784, Sir Francis Basset exerted himself to the utmost, and made large sacrifices of money in support of the unpopular coalition ministry, and he remained stedfast with that defeated party till the whole political hemisphere became changed in every aspect, by an event manifested in one country alone, but originating from causes long in action, and imperceptively working throughout an entire change of ancient institutions, with the very form and shape perhaps of civilized society as it previously stood.

The conflict of opinion which gave rise to the French Revolution, has but one parallel in the history of mankind; in the mental agitation, almost amounting to phrensy, which accompanied and urged forward the great change of religion three centuries before. That agitation and conflict still divides Europe, although with diminished violence; and possibly, therefore, an equal period may elapse before the questions, relative to civil government and social order, shall have received their final settlement, if, indeed, the period is ever to arrive.

Most of those in the dawn of youth possessed of eager minds and liberal sentiments, were borne along by the torrent of passions, excited by new systems, promising universal happiness, with increased wisdom and virtue; founded on plans for reconstructing human society, derived, it was said, from philosophical investigation, to be substituted in the place of patched and mended institutions, originating with savages in the forests of Scandinavia.

But Sir Francis Basset had the advantage of several years passed in active experience with the world. He had learnt that the human faculties are unequal to the formation of systems _a priori_, but must submit to follow the more humble course of adaptation, tentative experiment, and induction; and it was manifest that the new political reasoners had entirely omitted to consider the real nature of the ὑλη αμεταχειριστη forming the wide basis of society; or that they were devising plans not suited to the actual state of things, but to one which they fondly imagined was about to be.

Every page of history, moreover, might prove to those willing or desirous of obtaining information from what has actually past, that the crisis of change is invariably bad; and that objects, attained by the sacrifice of an existing generation, have very frequently proved of less value than those for which they had been substituted. Parties, from their very natures, are known to run into extremes; it is probable, therefore, that the leaders opposed to Mr. Pitt professed much greater admiration of the new principles than they really felt; such professions were, however, made; and Sir Francis Basset concurring in opinion with many of the wisest, the best informed, and of those most deeply interested in the welfare of the country, that the safety of the state was at issue, added his weight to what would now be termed the Conservative scale.

Sir Francis Basset, so distinguished by personal qualities and attainments, by the antiquity of his family, by the achievements of his ancestors, and by fortune, had long been designated in public opinion as a person proper to be placed in the House of Peers; and accordingly, on the 17th of July 1796, an hereditary seat in Parliament was bestowed on him by the King, together with the nominal Barony of Dunstanville, so called after Barons of that name, in the time of Henry the First, Henry the Second, Richard Cœur de Lion, John, and Henry the Third, who were equally connected with his family and with the reigning family of Plantagenet.

A second creation took place on the 7th of November in the following year, of Baron Basset, with a special remainder to his daughter in failure of male issue.

Lord Dunstanville has from this period continued to support the genuine character of a dignified English gentleman; discharging his parliamentary duties in the manner deemed most useful to the interests of his country; executing the office of a magistrate to the benefit, and to the entire satisfaction, of his neighbourhood; setting an example most worthy of general imitation, as the possessor of an extensive landed estate, and as a most liberal proprietor of mines. Kind and benevolent to every one, esteemed in the highest degree by his private friends and relations, and certainly placed by general acclamation, in regard to all these qualities and circumstances taken together, as by far the first man in the county which he has benefited and adorned.

The Editor has written this imperfect and inadequate sketch of Lord Dunstanville with a heavy heart; for although his countenance brightens at the presence of a friend, and memory still presents some images of things past by, and reason continues to discriminate the ideas brought into view, yet such are the ways of Providence, leading, as we hope, believe, and trust to universal good, that a wreck only remains of what used to excite our admiration, our respect, and our esteem.

Lord Dunstanville married, May the 16th 1780, Frances Susanna, daughter of John Hippesley Cox, Esq. of Stone Easton in Somersetshire, who has left an only daughter, the Hon. Frances Basset. He married secondly, Harriet, daughter of Sir William Lemon.

Illoggan measures 8,028 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 11,334 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 1887 0 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 2895 | 4078 | 5170 | 6072 giving an increase of 110 per cent. very nearly, in 30 years. The present rector, the Rev. George Treweeke, presented by Lord de Dunstanville in 1822.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This extensive parish resembles that of Camborne in its geological structure. Its southern portion rests on granite, which at Carnarthen abounds in shorl; and at Carnkie it contains a bed of porphyry, with crystals of felspar and of shorl; and at the same place another bed, the basis of which more resembles compact shorl rock than it does compact felspar. Near Portreath, and from thence to Perth Towan, the slate appears to differ from that of Camborne; and at Perth Towan it contains short irregular veins of calcareous spar, as at Porthalla in St. Kevern, and at other places on the borders of the calcareous series.

ST. JOHN’S.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Anthony, east Maker, west Sheviock, south the British channel. The modern name John is derived from the tutelar guardian and patron of the Church, St. John the Evangelist. In the Domesday tax this parish was rated under the district or manor of Makertone. In the Inquisition into the value of Cornish benefices, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis, in decanatu de Eastwellshire, is valued xl_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 12_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._; the patronage in ――――, the incumbent Tarr. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 72_l._ 0_s._ 8_d._

TONKIN.

The manor of Insworth,

A Peninsula on whose neck, says Mr. Carew, standeth an ancient house of the Champernons; and descended by his daughters and heirs to Fortescue, Monck, and Trevilian, three gentlemen of Devon. The site is naturally both pleasant and profitable; to which the owner, by his ingenious experiments, daily addeth an artificial surplusage. Mr. Tonkin then adds, this estate (as I am better informed) being in the parish of Maker, I shall there treat more fully of it.

Sir Richard Champernon, of Madberie in Devon, Knt. had by Catherine his wife, daughter of Ralph Daubeney, Knt. two sons, Richard and John. He died in 1418, and gave this place to the said John, who lived here, and left only one son, a Richard Champernon, who by his wife, the daughter and heir of Sir John Hamley, Knt. left three daughters, one of whom married Humphrey Monck, of Potheridge in Devon, Esq.

The said Sir John Champernon was Sheriff of Cornwall 24 Henry VI. 1445, as his son Richard in the first year of Edward IV. 1461.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Hals has not gone into any particulars respecting this parish; but he has occupied several pages with the real and with the legendary histories of the Evangelist, to whom the Church is dedicated; these are omitted as unsuited to a local history.

Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Tregenhawke, situated partly in this parish and partly in Rume, and feudatory to the manor of East Anthony, did belong to the family of Eliot, by whom it was alienated in 1635 to Richard Treville, merchant; and that from the Trevilles it passed by coheiresses to the families of Cross and Trelawny. The whole now belongs to Lord Graves, who has also the manor of Withroe, called in this parish Winnow.

The right of presentation is appendant to the honour of East Anthony.

An excavation in the cliff at Whitsand Bay is noticed as having been made by Mr. Luggan, the proprietor of a farm called Freathy, by way of exercise and amusement.

The church is, perhaps, of less dimensions than any other in Cornwall, being no more than fifty-six feet long by eighteen in breadth; it bears the appearance of antiquity, and is decorated by some monuments, one to the family of Beel, with their arms, Azure, three griffins’ heads erased Argent.

This parish measures 872 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 1,016 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 108 19 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 110 | 143 | 178 | 150 giving an increase of about 36 per cent. in 30 years. Present rector, the Rev. William Rowe, instituted in 1808.

Dr. Boase says of the geology of this little parish, that its rocks are precisely similar to those of East Anthony, to which it adjoins; and may almost be considered as forming a part.

ST. ISSEY.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Pedyr, and hath upon the north the channel of Padstow habour, south and east St. Breoch and part of St. Colomb, west little Pedyrick. In Domesday roll 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Polton or Burge, now Burgus (i. e. Turris). In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Issei, in decanatu de Pedyr, is rated iiii_l._ vi_s._ viii_d._ Vicar ejusdem xlvi_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 9_l._; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent Harris, the rectory in Wright. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ in the pound Land Tax 1696, 161_l._

There hath been for many ages in Cornwall, a certain sort of unlearned men called attornies, who have taken upon them to solve all questions, debts, damages, and difficulties whatsoever, by exciting or increasing them, under pretence of friendship and good council, who are often called upon to the assistance of men of lazy or weak understanding to their undoing.

For instance thereof, I well remember in this parish of St. Issey there had lived two brethren of the surname of Warne, who having some small disputes or controversies one with the other, not determined, concerning a tenement of land in fee, containing about fifty acres, at a place called ――――; they appealed to two attornies, viz. Joseph Hawkey, of St. Colomb, and Degory King, of St. Breock in Pider, who run this their controversy so far in law and equity, that they were not able to pay the cost thereof as punctually as those attornies expected; thereupon they brought actions at law against their clients for the same, and at length obliged the two brothers of the Warnes aforesaid, to sell the inheritance of their lands aforesaid to their attornies, the one half thereof to Hawkey and the other moiety thereof to King, now in quiet possession thereof.

The inhabitants of this parish will tell you by tradition, that the tutelar guardian of this church is one St. Giggy, who in a place so called in this parish, hath yet extant a walled consecrated well, or spring of water, where heretofore he heard and judged cases of conscience for the cure of souls; but all further history of him is wanting, save that they tell me St. Issey is only a corruption of Giggy.

Hale-wyn in this parish (or Hall-wyn, the fair or white hill, as Hal is a hill, and Wyn or Gwyn white or fair. Goonwyn in Lelant the fair downs; Hale is a moor. Whitaker.) This lordship was from Edward the Fourth’s days one of the dwellings of the Champernons, of Intsworth, near Saltash; and in this place they had a great and magnificent house, as appears from the walls and ruinous rubbish and downfalls thereof yet to be seen, as also their domestic chapel and burying place; in the glass windows of which chapel was lately to be seen this inscription: “Orate pro anima Domini Ricardi de Campo Arnulphi;” and beneath the same his paternal coat armour, viz. Gules, a saltire Varry, between twelve cross-crosslets Or; which shews that he derived his blood and bones from the Champernownes, of Clyst Champernowne in Devon. For the Champernownes of Umberleigh and North Taunton, near Modbury, gave for their armes, the one Gules, a saltire Varry; the other, Gules, a saltire Varry between twelve billets Argent. [The name is originally Latin, De Campo Arnulphi, then formed by the Norman French into Champernulph, and finally formed by them, or by the Cornish, into Champernown. Whitaker.]

Cannall-Lidgye in this parish is the voke lands of a considerable manor, now in several persons’ hands; much of those lands being in possession of Boscawen as I take it; the high rents are in Hart. As part of the same, is the possession and birthplace of my very kind friend and neighbour Thomas Carthew, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, who by his indefatigable study and labour, first in the inferior practice of the law under Mr. Tregena, without being a perfect Latin grammarian, always using the English words for matters or things in his declarations, where he understood not the Latin; who was at length, by a mandamus from the Lord Keeper North, called to the bar, and the generous practice of the law for some years, when afterwards in the latter end of the reign of King William the Third, he had a call for being made a Sergeant-at-Law, under which circumstance he grew into such great fame and reputation that he is likely to make a considerable addition of riches to his paternal estate.

He married North, a relation to the Lord Keeper North aforesaid; his father, Baker, of Lanteglos, by Fowey; his grandfather Lawry; and giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron Azure, between three ducks Proper. The name is local, compounded of Car-dew, or Car-thew, i. e. Rock Black in this parish. Long since the writing hereof, those his lands of Canaligye are all sold by Mr. Carthew’s son and heir to two of the brothers of Trebilliocks.

Trevance in this parish, i. e. the town upon the rising or advanced land, is the dwelling of Richard Harris, Gent. that married Vivyan, of Tollskidy; his father Moyle.

Tre-vor-ike in this parish, [Pryce, in his Archæologia Cornu-Britannica says, Ick I take to signify either a creek, rivulet, or brook, as Trevorick, the town or the brook. Whitaker.] is the dwelling of William Cornish, Gent. that married Cornish, his father Tonkyn; originally descended from one William Cornish that settled here tempore Queen Mary, a Welshman. To this place belongs a sea-mill, a healing or slate stone quarry, and a lime kiln, commonly made in jointure to those gentlemen’s wives, to win whom in marriage this argument amongst others was commonly used,

She that will this Squire marry, Shall have the mill, the kill, and the quarry;

now all spent and wasted by ill conduct, and those lands sold to a relation of his surnamed Cornish, or some other.

At Carthew, or Legarike, in this parish, is a considerable lead or copper mine in the lands of Bearford or Bond; wherein many labouring tinners are much employed as miners, and reap much benefit thereby, as well as the lords of the lands or soil thereof.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to what is transcribed from Mr. Hals.

THE EDITOR.

The church of this parish is called in some ancient writings, Eglos-Crock and Nansant. The Dean and Chapter of Exeter are impropriators of the great tithes, and patrons of the vicarage. The church is very old, but decorated with a lofty tower; there are monuments to Mr. Thomas Carthew, and to some of the vicars. The church town is the largest village in this parish, and lies nearly midway between Padstow and Wade Bridge. Mr. Lysons says that the manor of St. Ide, extending from this parish into the adjacent parishes of Little Petherick, St. Ervan, Breock, Padstow, and Mawgan, belonged successively to the families of Hiwis, Coleshill, and Arundell, and at a later period to the Morices. It was purchased by the late Mr. Thomas Rawlings, of Padstow.

And Mr. Lysons adds that, Blayble, a small farm in St. Issey, now belonging to Mr. Richard Williams, who occupies it, was at an early period the seat of a branch of the Arundell family.

This parish measures 3,932 statute acres. Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._ returned to Parliament in 1815 2,050 0 0 Poor Rate in 1831 508 13 0 Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831, { 522 | 632 | 660 | 720 giving an increase of 38 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Dr. Boase says, that St. Issey has the same geological structure as the adjacent parish of St. Breock.

ST. IVES.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the east and north the Irish Sea, south Leland, west Tywednick; as for the modern name, it is taken from the tutelar guardian of the Church, which, as Mr. Camden tells us (upon what authority I know not) was one Iia, an Irish woman that preached the Gospel here. In the Domesday Tax, the 20th of William I. 1087, both the town and parish were taxed under the jurisdiction of Ludduham, now Lugian-lese manor, still extant here, formerly pertaining to the King or Earl of Cornwall, now to the Duke of Bolton, of whom the town of St. Ives’ privileges are held; and the same manor is held, as I take it, of the Earl of Cornwall’s Castle of Lancaster under certain rents.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of the Cornish benefices 1294, “ecclesia de Lelant in decanatu de Penwith,” is only taxed xxii_l._ xviii_s._ iiii_d._ without mention either of St. Ives or Tywednick, probably at that time they were neither erected or endowed; in Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, Ewny juxta Lelant and St. Ives are rated together 22_l._ 11_s._ 10½_d._; St. Ewny, that is to say Tywednike, and St. Ives being consolidated in their mother church Lelant, did pass in presentation with it; the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed them; the incumbent Hawkins, now Polkinhorn, the rectory in possession of Pitz; and the parish rated at 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 158_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._

This town, as Mr. Camden saith, was formerly called Pendenis or Pendunes, the head fort, fortress, or fortified place; probably from the little island here, containing about six acres of ground, on which there stands the ruins of a little old fortification and a chapel, betwixt which island and the bending shore, or sea cliff, stands an indifferent safe road for ships to lie at anchor with some winds, which gives opportunity of trade and merchandize to the townsmen (whose town is situate thereon) and also for fishing, whereby they have much enriched themselves of late years.

The manor of Ludduham, formerly comprehending the parishes of Ludduham, Lelant, Tywednick, and St. Ives, now so many districts, is a lordship of great antiquity, and was privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest, for under that name it was then taxed (as aforesaid) though its now transnominated to Luggyan Lese; in which stands the borough of St. Ives, which claims the privileges thereof by prescription and tenure, all which are confirmed by a charter of incorporation from King Charles I. afterwards by another from King James II. by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, which consists of a Mayor, ten Aldermen, and eleven Common Councilmen; the Members of Parliament elected by freemen, alias scot