[80] It is somewhat singular that, notwithstanding the early and close
connexion of the Boscawen family with this church, which is one of
unusual interest--containing an oratory with a stone altar in the
tower--though the Boscawen monuments here are numerous, yet there is no
earlier example than one to Hugh, who married a lady of the Carminow
family, and who died in 1559.
[81] Dr. Borlase mentions the high esteem in which the elder-tree was
held by the Cornu-Britons, and states, with reference to the height to
which it will reach under favourable circumstances, that Mr. Tonkin was
informed that one of these trees, nearly fifty feet high, was blown
down in Carhayes Park during a gale, about the year 1720.
[82] According to Hals, the Buryan Boscawens also transplanted their
dwelling-places to Tregameer in St. Columb Major, and Trevallock
in Creed, or St. Stephen's, and from thence, by marriage with the
daughter and heir of Tregothnan, by Lawrence Boscawen, gentleman,
attorney-at-law, temp. Henry VII., who died 1567, and lies buried in
the north transept of St. Michael Penkivel Church, as is testified by a
brass inscription on his gravestone, there lately extant, upon which,
on a lead escutcheon, was engraved his paternal coat armour. He it was
who built the towers of old Tregothnan House.
[83] He must have been a wealthy man, for Davies Gilbert says that on
Hugh Boscawen's daughter Bridget's marriage with Hugh Fortescue he gave
her £100,000.
[84] Sub. _Basset_.
[85] According to Lysons, the Deanery of the royal chapel of St. Burian
was a dignity held immediately under the Crown, and in a Cartulary,
20th Edw. I., the incumbent is called Dean of the King's Free Chapel
of St. Burian. He used to exercise an independent jurisdiction in
all ecclesiastical matters within the parish and its immediate
dependencies. The three prebends belonging to the church of St. Burian
were Prebenda Parva, Prebenda de Respermel and Prebenda de Tirthney;
though there may have possibly been a fourth, called Trethyn, a place
in this parish where there was once a chapel. The first-named Prebend
was in the gift of the Bishop; the two others were annexed to the
Deanery of St. Burian. The 'Deanery' has, however, ceased to be; the
three parishes are separated, and there are now simply Rectors of
St. Buryan, St. Levan, and St. Sennen. (Cf. a paper on 'The Cornish
Chantries' by Mr. H. Michell Whitley, in the Truro Diocesan Kalendar
for 1882.)
[86] His medallion portrait on his monument at St. Michael Penkivel,
was designed by his mother, and was sculptured by Nollekens.
[87] He is so depicted in his portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds in our
National Portrait Gallery. There are numerous engraved portraits of him
in the Print Room of the British Museum.
[88] Edgcumbe took home the Admiral's despatches in the _Shannon_.
[89] Yet the French _ships_ were in many respects better than the
English; Professor Montagu Burrows (Captain R.N.) considers that
an English 70-gun ship of the line was then not more than equal to
a French 52. Many of the vessels were absolutely rotten, and the
provisioning was grossly mismanaged. The officers too, it is said,
were often found combining prudence with valour in somewhat un-English
proportions.
[90] 'Hawke's grandfather (says Professor Burrows), a London merchant,
had, like his ancestors for many generations, been settled at Treriven
or Treraven (? Raven on the one-inch ordnance map, near the interesting
old house of Trebasil), in the parish of St. Cleather, in Cornwall,
about half-way between Launceston and Tintagel Head. Cornwall thus
has the honour of having produced the two greatest admirals of the
period, Hawke and Boscawen.' I did not myself venture to claim Hawke
as a Cornishman, inasmuch as his father, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn,
settled at Bocking in Norfolk.
[91] It is extremely gratifying to record that on that glorious morning
scions of distinguished Cornish families were present--a Boscawen and a
St. Aubyn--viz., the eldest son of the present Viscount Falmouth, and
the second son of the present Sir John St. Aubyn, Bart.
[92] Walpole has pointed out, in his 'Memoirs of the last Ten Years of
George II.,' how the reserved and proud Anson, 'who had been round the
world, but never in it,' had carried off all the glory of the victory
at Cape Finisterre, though Boscawen had done the service. In this view
Professor Burrows concurs.
[93] Pondicherry (or Puducheri) as it is called by the natives,
seems to have had a somewhat chequered history. It was purchased by
the French, from the King of Benjapore, in 1672; it was taken from
them by the Dutch in 1693, who considerably enlarged the town and
fortifications. At the Treaty of Ryswick it was restored to France; in
1748 it was, as we have seen, unsuccessfully besieged by Boscawen; but
in 1761, after a long, tedious blockade, it was captured by Coote. At
the Peace of 1763 it was again restored to France; in 1778 it was once
more surrendered to England, and finally it was delivered up to France
in 1783, to become the capital of the French Settlements in India.
[94] Here, too, Cook, the circumnavigator, won his first laurels.
[95] A still more complete and detailed account, illustrated by a map,
will be found in R. Brown's 'History of Cape Breton.'
[96] The year after Boscawen expelled the French from Cape Breton,
Wolfe and Saunders drove them out of Canada.
[97] His tactics were to get to windward of his opponents,
notwithstanding the advantage that gave their gunnery at first, whilst
waiting to leeward for the attack; but the British crews were not
given to flinching under fire, and when once Boscawen got within half
musket-shot of the enemy he 'hammered away into his antagonists' hulls,
and it was soon all over with them.'
[98] The French Admiral's ship, the _Ocean_, carried 80 guns; besides
her, the fleet comprised five ships of 74 guns, three of 64 guns, two
of 50 guns, one of 26 guns, and two of 24 guns. Admiral Ekins could
never sufficiently admire Admiral Boscawen's action in shifting his
flag to the _Newark, during_ the fight with De la Clue, observing that
we have had but one example since Boscawen's time of this being done;
viz., by Commodore Nelson on 14th February. Ekins gives a capital
account of this engagement, by a midshipman who was present.
[99] There is a local tradition that the Admiral caused the tower of
this church to be lowered, lest it should serve as a landmark to the
enemy!
[100] Luttrell (v. 594) says that (Sept., 1705) John Evelyn, Esq., was
married to Mrs. Boscawen, niece to the Lord Treasurer (? Godolphin).
_DAVY_,