CORNISH CHARACTERSAND STRANGE EVENTS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERSAND STRANGE EVENTS
With 55 Full-page IllustrationsReproduced from Old Prints, etc.
CORNISHCHARACTERS
AND STRANGE EVENTSBY S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
WITH 62 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONSREPRODUCED FROM OLD PRINTS, ETC.
"We all are men,
In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh; few are angels."
Henry VIII (Act V, Sc. 2).
LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEADNEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMIX
PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS
PREFACE
Cornwall, peopled mainly by Celts, butwith an infusion of English blood, stands andalways has stood apart from the rest of England,much, but in a less degree, as hasWales. That which brought it into more intimateassociation with English thought, interests, and progresswas the loss of the old Cornish tongue.
The isolation in which Cornwall had stood hastended to develop in it much originality of character;and the wildness of the coast has bred a hardy race ofseamen and smugglers; the mineral wealth, moreover,drew thousands of men underground, and the undergroundlife of the mines has a peculiar effect on mindand character: it is cramping in many ways, but ittends to develop a good deal of religious enthusiasm,that occasionally breaks forth in wild forms of fanaticism.Cornwall has produced admirable sailors, menwho have won deathless renown in warfare at sea, as"Old Dreadnought" Boscawen, Pellew, Lord Exmouth,etc., and daring and adventurous smugglers,like "The King of Prussia," who combined greatreligious fervour with entire absence of scruple in thematter of defrauding the king's revenue. It has producedmen of science who have made for themselvesa world-fame, as Adams the astronomer, and Sir[Pg viii]Humphry Davy the chemist; men who have beenbenefactors to their race, as Henry Trengrouse, SirGoldsworthy Gurney, and Trevithick. It has sentforth at least one notable painter, the miner's boy Opie,and a dramatist, Samuel Foote, and a great singer inhis day, Incledon. But it has not given to literaturea great poet. Minor rhymes have been produced ingreat quan