their full share of the superstitious feelings of the country, and
often hear with alarm the noises, as it were, of other miners at work
deep underground, and at no great distance. The rolling of the barrows,
the sound of the pickaxes, and the fall of the earth and stones, are
distinctly heard through the night,—often, no doubt, the echo of their
own labours; but sometimes continued long after that labour has ceased,
and occasionally voices seem to mingle with them. Gilbert believed that
he was peculiarly exposed to these visitations; he had an instinctive
shrinking from the place where the accident had happened; and, when
left alone there, it was in vain that he plied his toil with desperate
energy to divert his thoughts. Another person appeared to work very near
him: he stayed the lifted pick and listened. The blow of the other fell
distinctly, and the rich ore followed it in a loud rolling; he checked
the loaded barrow that he was wheeling; still that of the unknown workman
went on, and came nearer and nearer, and then there followed a loud,
faint cry, that thrilled through every nerve of the lonely man, for
it seemed like the voice of his brother. These sounds all ceased on a
sudden, and those which his own toil caused were the only ones heard,
till, after an interval, without any warning, they began again, at times
more near, and again passing away to a distance.”—_The Tale of the Miner._
[48]
“Now well! now well! the angel did say
To certain poor shepherds in the fields who lay
Late in the night, folding their sheep;
A winter’s night, both cold and deep.
Now well! now well! now well!
Born is the King of Israel!”
[49] A tributer is a man who agrees with the adventurers in a mine to
receive a certain share of the profits on the ore raised by him in lieu
of wages. This account is settled monthly or bi-monthly, which will
explain the phrase a “poor month.”
[50] “The man has still a good thick head of hair.—C. F. S.”
[51] I am informed that there are no less than four of these cliff
chapels between St Leven and St Loy, which was a larger building, where
mass was probably celebrated.
[52] Pilchards are called _par excellence_ “fish.”
[53] Heva is shouted from the hills, upon which a watch is kept for the
approach of pilchards by the “huer,” who telegraphs to the boats by
means of bushes covered with white cloth, or, in modern days, with wire
frames so covered. These signals are well understood, and the men in the
seine and the other boats act according to the huer’s directions. The
following song contains all the terms employed in this fishery; many of
them, especially _Could Roos_, do not appear to have any definite meaning
attached to them.
The song is by the late C. Taylor Stevens of St Ives, who was for some
time the rural postman to Zennor. I employed Mr Taylor Stevens for some
time collecting all that remains of legendary tales and superstitions in
Zennor and Morva. The net is spelled sometimes Seine at others Sean.
“MERRY SEAN LADS.
“With a cold north wind and a cockled sea,
Or an autumn’s cloudless day,
At the huer’s bid, to stem we row,
Or upon our paddles play.
All the signs, ‘East, West, and Quiet,
Could Roos,’ too well we know;
We can bend a stop, secure a cross,
For brave sean lads are we!
_Chorus_—We can bend a stop, secure a cross,
For brave sean lads are we!
“If we have first stem when heva comes,
We’ll the huer’s bushes watch;
We will row right off or quiet lie,
Flying summer sculls to catch.
And when he winds the towboat round,
We will all ready be,
When he gives Could Roos, we’ll shout hurrah!
Merry sean lads are we!
_Chorus_—When he gives Could Roos, we’ll shout hurrah!
Merry sean lads are we!
“When the sean we’ve shot, upon the tow,
We will heave with all our might,
With a heave! heave O! and rouse! rouse O!
Till the huer cries, ‘All right.’
Then on the bunt place kegs and weights,
And next to tuck go we.
We’ll dip, and trip, with a ‘Hip hurrah!’
Merry sean lads are we!
_Chorus_—We’ll dip, and trip, with a ‘Hip hurrah!’
Merry sean lads are we!”
[54] Hone’s “Every-Day Book.”
[55] Spinning-wheel.
[56] Every-Day Book.
[57] On the Diseases of Cornish Miners. By William Wale Tayler, F.R.C.S.
[58] When cattle or human beings have been bewitched, it was very
commonly thought that if a bottle of urine from the diseased beast or
person was obtained, then corked very tight and buried mouth downwards,
that the witch would be afflicted with strangury, and in her suffering
confess her crime and beg forgiveness.
[59] Throb.
[60] The invocation of the “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” invariably
accompanies every form of charm.
[61] Borlase’s Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the
Island of Scilly.—“Notes and Queries,” vol. x. p. 181. 1854.
[62] The Survey of Cornwall. By Richard Carew.
[63] Draw and Hitchin’s Cornwall.
[64] See also p. 216.
[65] In Hugh Miller’s “Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland,”
edit. 1858, pp. 256, 257, will be found some stories of the flight of the
“herring drove” from the coast of Cromarty, which are analogous to this.
[66] See “Death Tokens.”
[67] “There appeared in the north-east the frustrum of a large rainbow;
all the colours were lively and distinct, and it was three times as wide
as the arch of an ordinary complete rainbow, but no higher than it was
wide. They call it here, in Cornwall, _a weather dog_; but in the Cornish
language, _Lagas-auel_,—that is, the weather’s eye,—and pronounce it a
certain sign of hard rain.”—_Borlase’s Natural History of Cornwall._
[68] Hone’s Table-Book.
[69] In pul; meaning in mud.
[70] Davies Gilbert’s “Cornwall.”
[71] Vol. iii. p. 309.
[72] Letter from William Peter, Esq. of Harlyn, to Davies Gilbert, vol.
iii. p. 178.
[73] See Keighton’s “Tales and Popular Fictions,” p. 247.
[74] “Traditions, Legends, Superstitions, and Sketches of Devonshire,”
by Mrs Bray, who gives a letter of her husband’s, for some time vicar of
Tavistock.
[75] See Gilbert, vol. iii., p. 293, and Bond’s account of the Trelawnys
in Bond’s Looe.
[76] Hone’s Table-Book.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
(A.)
ST PIRAN—PERRAN ZABULOE.
“It is rather a curious circumstance,” says Davies Gilbert, “that the
word _Zabuloe_ added to Perran, for the distinction of this parish,
is not Celtic, but through the French _sable_, from _sabulum_, a word
frequently used by Pliny, as indicative of sand or gravel.
“The encroachments of the sand have caused no less than three churches
to be built, after considerable intervals of time, in this parish. The
last was commenced in 1804; and in this year, (1835,) a building has
been discovered more ancient than the first of these churches, and not
improbably the oratory of St Perran himself. The length of this chapel
within the walls is 25 feet, without, 30 feet; the breadth within, 12½
feet; and the height of the walls the same.
“At the eastern end is a neat altar of stone covered with lime, 4 feet
long, by 2½ feet wide, and 3 feet high. Eight inches above the centre
of the altar is a recess in the wall, where probably stood a crucifix;
and on the north side of the altar is a small doorway, through which the
priest may have entered. Out of the whole length, the chancel extended
exactly 6 feet. In the centre of what may be termed the nave, in the
south wall, occurs a round arched doorway, highly ornamented. The
building is, however, without any trace of window; and there is only one
small opening, apparently for the admission of air.
“The discovery has excited much curiosity throughout the neighbourhood;
which has, unfortunately, manifested itself by the demolition of
everything curious in this little oratory, to be borne away as
relics.”—_Gilbert._
“Very little is known concerning the saint who has given his name to the
three Perrans. He is, however, held in great veneration, and esteemed the
patron of all Cornwall, or, at least, of the mining district.”—_Hals._
(B.)
THE DISCOVERER OF TIN.
By an anachronism of fifteen hundred years or more, St Perran was
considered as the person who first found tin; and this conviction induced
the miners to celebrate his day, the 5th of March, with so much hilarity,
that any one unable to guide himself along the road has received the
appellation of a Perraner; and that, again, has been most unjustly
reflected as a habit on the saint.
“It may here be worthy of remark, that, as the miners impute the
discovery of tin to St Perran, so they ascribe its reduction from
the ore, in a large way, to an imaginary person, St Chiwidden; but
_chi-wadden_ is white house, and must, therefore, mean a smelting or
blowing house, where the black ore of tin is converted into a white metal.
“A white cross on a black ground was formerly the banner of St Perran,
and the standard of Cornwall; probably with some allusion to the black
ore and the white metal of tin.”—_Gilbert._
A college, dedicated to St Perran, once stood in the parish of St Kevern,
(Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” vol. vi., p. 1449.) This probably had some
connexion with Perran Uthnoe. The shrine of St Perran was in that parish,
which is said to have contained his head, and other relics.
Lysons quotes a deed in the registry of Exeter, shewing the great resort
of pilgrims hither in 1485.
In the will of Sir John Arundell, 1433, occurs this bequest:—“Item,
lego ad usum parochie S’c’i’ Pyerani in Zabulo, ad clandendum capud S.
Pierani honorificè et meliori modo quo sciunt xls.”—_Collectanea Topogr.
et Geneal._, vol. iii p. 392.
For a full examination of the question, Did the Phœnicians trade with
Britain for tin? the following works should be consulted:—“History of
Maritime and Inland Discovery,” by W. D. Cooley; “Historical Survey of
the Astronomy of the Ancients,” by Sir George Cornewall Lewis; “Commerce
and Navigation of the Ancients,” by W. Vincent, D.D.; “Phœnicia,” by
John Kenrick, M.A.; “The Cassiterides: an Inquiry into the Commercial
Operations of the Phœnicians in Western Europe, with particular Reference
to the British Tin Trade,” by George Smith, LL.D., F.A.S.
(C.)
ST NEOT.
The following account of this celebrated saint, as given by Mr Davies
Gilbert, will not be without interest:—
“Multitudes flocked to him from all parts. He founded a monastery, and
repaired to Rome for a confirmation, and for blessing at the hands of
the Pope; these were readily obtained. He returned to his monastery,
where frequent visits were made to him by King Alfred, on which occasions
he admonished and instructed the great founder of English liberty; and
finally quitted this mortal life on the 31st of July, about the year
883, in the odour of sanctity so unequivocal that travellers all over
Cornwall were solaced by its fragrance. Nor did the exertions of our
saint terminate with his existence on earth; he frequently appeared to
King Alfred, and sometimes led his armies in the field. But, if the tales
of these times are deserving of any confidence, the nation is really and
truly indebted to St Neot for one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed
on it. To his advice, and even to his personal assistance as a teacher,
we owe the foundation by Alfred of the University at Oxford.
“The relics of St Neot remained at his monastery in Cornwall till about
the year 974, when Earl Alric, and his wife Ethelfleda, having founded
a religious house at Eynesbury, in Huntingdonshire, and being at a loss
for some patron saint, adopted the expedient of stealing the body of
St Neot; which was accordingly done, and the town retains his name,
thus feloniously obtained, up to this time. The monastery in Cornwall
continued feebly to exist, after this disaster, through the Saxon times;
but, having lost its palladium, it felt the ruiner’s hand; and, almost
immediately after the Norman Conquest, it was finally suppressed. Yet
the memory of the local saint is still cherished by the inhabitants of
the parish and of the neighbourhood—endeared, perhaps, by the tradition
of his diminutive stature, reduced, in their imagination, to fifteen
inches of height; and to these feelings we, in all probability, owe the
preservation of the painted glass, the great decoration of this church,
and one of the principal works of art to be seen in Cornwall.”—_Gilbert’s
Hist Corn._, vol. iii. p. 262.
(D.)
THE SISTERS OF GLEN-NEOT.
BY THE REV. R. S. HAWKER OF MORWENSTOW.
It is from Neot’s sainted steep
The foamy waters flash and leap;
It is where shrinking wild-flowers grow,
They lave the nymph that dwells below!
But wherefore in this far-off dell,
The reliques of a human cell?
Where the sad stream and lonely wind
Bring Man no tidings of their kind!
Long years agone! the old man said,
’Twas told him by his grandsire dead,
One day two ancient sisters came,
None there could tell their race or name.
Their speech was not in Cornish phrase,
Their garb had marks of loftier days;
Slight food they took from hands of men,
They wither’d slowly in that glen.
One died! the other’s shrunken eye
Gush’d till the fount of tears was dry;
A wild and wasting thought had she—
“I shall have none to weep for me!”
They found her silent at the last,
Bent in the shape wherein she pass’d—
Where her lone seat long used to stand,
Her head upon her shrivell’d hand!
Did fancy give this legend birth?
The grandame’s tale for winter-hearth,
Or some dead bard, by Neot’s stream,
People these banks with such a dream?
We know not! but it suits the scene,
To think such wild things here have been;
What spot more meet could grief or sin
Choose at the last to wither in?
_Echoes of Old Cornwall._
(E.)
MILLINGTON OF PENGERSWICK.
In the reign of Henry VIII., one Militon, or Millington, appears to
have purchased Pengerswick Castle. This Millington is said to have
retired into the solitude of this place on account of a murder which he
had committed. (Mr Wilkie Collins appears to have founded his novel of
“Basil” on this tradition.) In all probability a very much older story
is adapted to Mr Millington. So far from his being a recluse, we learn
of his purchasing St Michael’s Mount, “whose six daughters and heirs
invested their husbands and purchasers therewith.”
That Millington was a man of wealth, and that large possessions were held
by his family, is sufficiently evident. St Michael’s Mount appears to
have been “granted at first for a term of years to different gentlemen of
the neighbourhood. To Millington, supposed of Pengerswick, in Breage; to
Harris, of Kenegie, in Gulval; and, perhaps jointly with Millington, to a
Billett or Bennett.”—_Hals._
(F.)
SARACEN.
The term Saracen is always now supposed to apply to the Moors. This is
not exactly correct. Percy, for example, in his “Essay on the Ancient
Minstrels,” says, “The old metrical romance of ‘Horn Child,’ which,
although from the mention of Saracens, &c., it must have been written,
at least, after the First Crusade, in 1096, yet, from its Anglo-Saxon
language or idiom, can scarcely be dated later than within a century
after the Conquest.” I think this ballad, and several others of an early
date, prove the application of this term to some Oriental people previous
to the Crusades. Soldàin, soldàn, regarded as a corruption of sultan,—
“Whoever will fight yon grimme soldàn,
Right fair his meede shall be,”—
is clearly a much older term, applied to any grim Eastern tyrant, and
especially to the Oriental giants. It would not be a difficult task to
shew that the word Saracen, as used in Cornwall,—“_Atal Saracen!_” “_Oh,
he’s a Saracen!_” &c., was applied to the foreigners who traded with this
county for tin—at a very early period.
END OF SECOND SERIES.
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