[1] A very general one for poor people in some parts of the county
on Christmas-eve was pilchards and unpeeled potatoes boiled together
in one "crock."
[2] Scat, a blow, a slap.
[3] Uther is still used as a Christian name in Cornwall.
[4] The Cornish manner of pronouncing the name of St. Clare.
[5] Supposed to have been shads, vulgarly here called "Chuck-cheldern,"
from the number of bones in them.
[6] Burn, a, load, a burden.
[7] A fuller account of Tregeagle and his wonderful doings may be
found in Bottrell's Traditions, West Cornwall.
[8] A monastery existed there, and in 1883 portions of the building
were still standing.
[9] A gentleman's seat in the parish of Gulval, near Penzance.
[10] There is a small enclosure near the castle, where several
members of the family of Hosking were interred, owing to a quarrel
that Mr. Hosking had with the vicar of Ludgvan over some tithes. The
last funeral took place in 1823. On one of the stones is inscribed,
"It is virtue alone that consecrates this ground," and "Custom is
the idol of fools."
[11] The Penzance Promenade is built on part of it. In my childhood
it was said to be one of the resorts of "Spring-heeled Jack," of whom
I then lived in mortal dread.
[12] A small stream coloured by running through tin mining works.
[13] Marazion is no longer a Corporate town.
[14] Dennis is a very common Cornish surname.
[15] "Old Monk" is a term of contempt in Cornwall, applied to old
or young men. "I saw the old monk coming down the garden" (a youth
of twenty).
[16] The word Meryons is also used in Cornwall as a term of endearment,
"She's faather's little Meryon."
[17] See ante, "Cornish Feasts and Feasten Customs."
[18] Fuggan, a cake made of flour and raisins often eaten by miners
for dinner.
[19] Didjan, a tiny bit.
[20] Some say you must neither whistle nor swear, but you may sing
and laugh.
[21] All men are boys in Cornwall.
[22] Train-oil is expressed from them.
[23] To "bulk" pilchards is to place them, after they have been rubbed
with salt, in large regular heaps, alternately heads and tails.
[24] St. Ives.
[25] And "Cornish Feasts and Customs."
[26] The illiterate Cornish often double their negatives: "I don't
know, not I;" "I'll never do it, no, never no more."
[27] Hazelen mot--root of a hazel tree.
[28] Braggaty--spotted.
[29] Double--a ring.
[30] Fuggan, a flat cake.
[31] Brend, to knit the brows.
[32] Tap a shoe, to sole.
[33] A similar superstition prevails about breakages, and a servant
who has had the misfortune to break a valuable piece of china will
sometimes smash a common basin or tea-cup to arrest the ill-luck.
[34] "Pitch a tune," to give the keynote.
[35] "Arish mow," a rick of corn made in the field where it was cut.
[36] Scat, to slap.
[37] A gill.
[38] Cornish for hogshead.
[39] Anker.