THE OLD MARKET-HOUSE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS—BATTLE OF ARCHITECTURAL
STYLES—THE SELF-TAUGHT ARCHITECT OF THE LAND’S END—BUSTLE OF A MARKET
DAY—MADAM TREZILLIAN’S HEAD-DRESS—THE ANCIENT FISH-WOMEN OF
PENZANCE—NEW MANSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD—THE SCHOOLDAYS AND HOME OF
PELLEW—THE WESTERN APPROACH TO PENZANCE (ALVERTON LANE)—PARSON SPRY,
THE CURATE OF SENNEN AND ST. LEVAN, HALF-A-CENTURY AGO, AND HIS WOODEN
HORSE AND DOG “SPORT”—“SPORT’S” BEHAVIOUR AT CHURCH AND IN
CHURCHYARD—THE REV. JAMES BEVAN—COUNTRY CLERKS AND COUNTRY CHOIRS—OLD
CHRISTMAS CAROLS—ANCIENT MODE OF CONDUCTING FUNERALS—FORMER MEANS OF
INFORMATION AMONG THE PEOPLE—ASTROLOGERS OF THE WEST—CONJURORS AND
THEIR SPELLS—OLD JUSTICE JONES AND CHEAP LABOUR—THE VINGOES OF
TREVILLE—THE JUSTICE’S PUNISHMENT—PELLEW AND HIS CORNISH CREW—THE
ANCIENT GAMES OF HURLING AND WRESTLING—OLD METHODS OF CONVEYANCE—RIDING
PILLION—POPULAR SONGS OF THE TIME, MALBROOK, AND SENTIMENTAL
DITTIES—GREEN LANES AND FOOTPATHS—PACK-SADDLES, OX-BUTTS, AND THE FIRST
CARRIAGE—GOING TO TOWN ON MARKET-DAY—PENZANCE IN THE EARLY PART OF THIS
CENTURY, &c.—Written September, 1867.
Dim, dream-like forms! Your shadowy train
Around me gathers once again,
The same as in life’s morning hour,
Before my troubled gaze you pass’d:
Oh! this time shall I have the power—
Shall I essay to hold you fast?
—Goethe’s Faust, Filmore’s Translation.