Chapter IV: Appendix: A. St Piran—Perran Zabuloe, 287 (3)

The Danes and the Cornish are reported to have concentrated their forces to oppose Egbert the Saxon. In 835 the combined body are reported to have met, and fought a pitched battle on Hengistendane, (now Hengistondown,) near Callington. The Cornish were so totally routed, that Egbert obliged the Danes to retire to their ships, and passed a law “that no Briton should in future cross the Tamar, or set foot on English ground, on pain of death.”[34]

In 997 the Danes, sailing about Penwrith-steort, landed in several places, foraged the country, burnt the towns, and destroyed the people.[35]

Many of the traditions which are given in different parts of these volumes have much of the Danish element in them.[36]

KING ARTHUR IN THE FORM OF A CHOUGH.

I quote the following as it stands:—[37]

“In Jarvis’s translation of “Don Quixote,” book ii., chap. v.,
the following passage occurs:—

“‘Have you not read, sir,’ answered Don Quixote, ‘the annals
and histories of England, wherein are recorded the famous
exploits of King Arthur, whom, in our Castilian tongue, we
always call King Artus; of whom there goes an old tradition,
and a common one all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that
this king did not die, but that, by magic art, he was turned
into a raven; and that, in process of time, he shall reign
again and recover his kingdom and sceptre, for which reason it
cannot be proved that, from that time to this, any Englishman
has killed a raven?’

“My reason for transcribing this passage is to record the
curious fact that the legend of King Arthur’s existence in the
form of a raven was still repeated as a piece of folk lore in
Cornwall about sixty years ago. My father, who died about two
years since, at the age of eighty, spent a few years of his
youth in the neighbourhood of Penzance. One day he was walking
along Marazion Green with his fowling-piece on his shoulder, he
saw a raven at a distance, and fired at it. An old man who was
near immediately rebuked him, telling him that he ought on no
account to have shot at a raven, for that King Arthur was still
alive in the form of that bird. My father was much interested
when I drew his attention to the passage which I have quoted
above.

“Perhaps some of your Cornish or Welsh correspondents may be
able to say whether the legend is still known among the people
of Cornwall or Wales.

“EDGAR MACCULLOCH.”

“GUERNSEY.”

I have been most desirous of discovering if any such legend as the above exists. I have questioned people in every part of Cornwall in which King Arthur has been reported to have dwelt or fought, and especially have I inquired in the neighbourhood of Tintagel, which is reported to have been Arthur’s stronghold. Nowhere do I find the raven associated with him, but I have been told that bad luck would follow the man who killed a Chough, for Arthur was transformed into one of these birds.

THE CORNISH CHOUGH.

The tradition relative to King Arthur and his transformation into a raven, is fixed very decidedly on the Cornish Chough, from the colour of its beak and talons. The—

“Talons and beak all red with blood”

are said to mark the violent end to which this celebrated chieftain came.

SLAUGHTER BRIDGE.

Historians and poets have made the world familiar with King Arthur. We know how Merlin deceived, by his magic, the beautiful Igerna, so that she received King Uter as her husband. We know also that Uter Pendragon died, and that his son, by Igerna, reigned King of Britain. How Arthur ruled, and how he slaughtered all the enemies of Britain, is told in the chronicles. But even at Tintagel[38] all is silent respecting the king or his celebrated Round Table.

“In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a monstrous giant,” is familiar to us all; and it is curious to find a tradition that the extirpation of these Titans was due to Arthur and Christianity, as already related. At Slaughter Bridge I heard the story, but it did not sound like a tradition; the true native character was not in the narrative. That in 824 the Cornish and Saxons fought so bloody a battle that the river ran red with blood. On Slaughter Bridge Arthur is said to have killed his nephew, Modred, but that, previously to this last fight, Modred wounded his uncle with a poisoned sword, nearly in front of Worthyvale House. A single stone laid over a stream, having some letters cut on its lower surface, is believed to mark the exact spot where Arthur received his death-wound.

CAMELFORD AND KING ARTHUR.

At the head of this river Alan is seated Camelford, otherwise written Galleford, a small town. It was formerly called Kambton, according to Leland, who tells us that “Arthur, the British Hector,” was slain here, or in the valley near it. He adds, in support of this, that “pieces of armour, rings, and brass furniture for horses are sometimes digged up here by the countrymen; and after so many ages, the tradition of a bloody victory in this place is still preserved.” There are also extant some verses of a Middle Age poet about “Camels” running with blood after the battle of Arthur against Modred.[39]

“Camulus is another name of the god of war, occurring in two of Gruter’s inscriptions.”[40]

Seeing that Arthur’s great battles were fought near this town, and on the banks of the river, may not the names given to the town and river be derived from Camulus?

“O’er Cornwall’s cliffs the tempest roar’d,
High the screaming sea-mew soar’d;
On Tintagel’s topmost tower
Darksome fell the sleety shower;
Round the rough castle shrilly sung
The whirling blast, and wildly flung
On each tall rampart’s thundering side
The surges of the tumbling tide:
When Arthur ranged his red cross ranks
On conscious Camlan’s crimson’d banks.”

_The Grave of King Arthur_—WHARTON.

In a Welsh poem it is recited that Arthur, after the battle of Camlan in Cornwall, was interred in the Abbey of Glastonbury, before the high altar, without any external mark. Henry II is said to have visited the abbey, and to have ordered that the spot described by the bard should be opened. We are told that at twenty feet deep they found the body deposited under a large stone, with Arthur’s name inscribed thereon.

Glastonbury Abbey is said to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea, in a spot anciently called the island or valley of Avolmia or Avolon.

Bale, in his “Acts of English Votaries,” attests to the finding of the remains of Arthur:—

“In Avallon, anno 1191, there found they the flesh bothe of Arthur and of hys wyfe Guenever turned all into duste, wythin theyr coffines of strong oke, the bones only remaynynge. A monke of the same abbeye, standyng and behouldyng the fine broydinges of the wommanis heare as _yellow as golde_ there still to remayne. As a man ravyshed, or more than halfe from his wyttes, he leaped into the graffe, xv fote depe, to have caugte them sodenlye. But he fayled of his purpose. For so soon as they were touched they fell all to powder.”

DAMELIOCK CASTLE.

This ancient British castle once stood in savage grandeur a rival to Tintagel. Its ruins, which can scarcely be traced, are in the parish of St Tudy. Here Gothlois of the Purple Spear, Earl of Cornwall, fortified himself against Uter Pendragon’s soldiery, and here he was slain. Gothlois, or Gothlouis, was the husband of Igerna, who was so cruelly deceived by Uter, and who became the mother of Arthur.

CARLIAN IN KEA.

One of the most celebrated of Arthur’s knights, Sir Tristram, is said to have been born in this parish. A tradition of this is preserved in the parish, but it is probably derived from the verses of Thomas of Erceldoune, better known as Thomas the Rhymer.

SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT.

“And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight—
Warlocks and witches in a dance.”

_Tam o’ Shanter_—BURNS.

ROMANCES OF WITCHES, ETC.

THE “CUNNING MAN.”

“And as he rode over the more,
Hee see a lady where shee sate
Betwixt an oke and a greene hollen;
She was cladd in red scarlett.

“Then there as shold have stood her mouth,
Then there was sett her eye;
The other was in her forhead fast,
The way that she might see.

“Her nose was crook’d and turn’d outward,
Her mouth stood foule awry;
A worse-form’d lady then shee was,
Never man saw with his eye.”

_The Marriage of Sir Gawaine._

That a deep-rooted belief in the power of the witch still lingers in the remote districts of Cornwall cannot be denied. A gentleman, who has for many years been actively engaged in a public capacity, gives me, in reply to some questions which I put to him relative to a witch or conjurer, much information, which is embodied in this section.

A “cunning man” was long resident in Bodmin, to whom the people from all parts of the country went to be relieved of spells, under the influence of which either themselves or their cattle were supposed to be suffering. Thomas ——, who resided at Nanstallan, not far from the town of Bodmin, was waylaid, robbed, and well thrashed on his way home from market. This act, which was accompanied by some appearance of brutality, was generally referred to one of the dupes of his cunning. Howbeit, Thomas —— appears to have felt that the place was getting too hot for him, for he migrated to one of the parishes on the western side of the Fowey river. Numerous instances are within my knowledge of the belief which existed amongst the peasantry that this man really possessed the power of removing the effects of witchcraft. Thomas —— took up his abode for some time with a small farmer, who had lost some cattle. These losses were attributed to the malign influences of some evil-disposed person; but as Thomas —— failed to detect the individual, he with the farmer made many journeys to Exeter, to consult the “White Witch,” who resided in that city. Whether the result was satisfactory or otherwise, I have never learned. Thomas ——, it must be remembered, was only a “witch.” The term is applied equally to men as to women. I never heard any uneducated person speak of a “wizard.” There appear to be, however, some very remarkable distinctions between a male and a female witch. The former is almost always employed to remove the evil influences exerted by the latter. Witches, such as Thomas, had but limited power. They could tell who had been guilty of ill-wishing, but they were powerless to break the spell and “unbewitch” the sufferer. This was frequently accomplished by the friends of the bewitched, who, in concert with Thomas ——, would perform certain ceremonies, many of them of an obscene, and usually of a blasphemous, character. The “White Witch” was supposed to possess the higher power of removing the spell, and of punishing the individual by whose wickedness the wrong had been inflicted.

Jenny Harris was a reputed witch. This woman, old, poor, and, from the world’s ill usage, rendered malicious, was often charged with the evils which fell upon cattle, children, or, indeed, on men and women. On one occasion, a robust and rough-handed washerwoman, who conceived that she was under the spell of Jenny Harris, laid violent hands on the aged crone, being resolved to “bring blood from her.” The witch’s arm was scratched and gouged from the elbow to the wrist, so that a sound inch of skin did not exist. This violent assault became the subject of inquiry before the magistrates, who fined the washerwoman five pounds for the assault.

My correspondent writes:—“I was also present at a magistrates’ meeting at the Porcupine Inn, near Tywardreath, some years ago, when an old woman from Golant was brought up for witchcraft. One farmer, who appeared against her, stated that he had then six bullocks hanging up in chains in his orchard, and he attributed their disease and death to the poor old woman’s influence. The case was dismissed, but it afforded a good deal of merriment. There was a dinner at the inn after the meeting, and some of the farmers present were disposed to ridicule the idea of witchcraft. I said, well knowing their real views and opinions, ‘Gentlemen, it is all well enough to laugh, but it appears to me to be a serious matter.’ Upon which Mr ——, a farmer of ——, said, ‘You are right, Mr ——; I’ll tell of two cases in which one family suffered severely,’ and he gave us the details of the cases. All the others present had a case or two, each one within his own experience to vouch for, and the whole afternoon was spent telling witch stories.”

The extent to which this belief was carried within a comparatively recent period, may be inferred from the fact that, on one occasion when the visitors were assembled at the county asylum, a man residing at Callington came with the mother of a poor imbecile patient, and sent his card to the boardroom. This was inscribed with his name and M.A. Upon being asked how he became a Master of Arts, he replied that he was a “Master of Black Arts.” The object of this fellow’s visit was, having persuaded the mother of his power, to propose to the visitors that they should place the imbecile girl in his care, upon his undertaking, on their paying him five pounds, to cure her. Of course this was not listened to. This fellow imposed upon people to such an extent, that he was eventually tried at the sessions, under an almost forgotten Act of Parliament, for witchcraft. The impression on the mind of my informant is that the case broke down.

NOTES ON WITCHCRAFT.

In confirmation of the melancholy facts related of the continuance of the belief in witchcraft, I would give the accompanying cuttings from the _West Briton_ newspaper of a very recent date:—

GROSS SUPERSTITION.

“During the week ending Sunday last, a ‘wise man’ from Illogan
has been engaged with about half-a-dozen witchcraft cases, one
a young tradesman, and another a sea-captain. It appears that
the ‘wise man’ was in the first place visited at his home by
these deluded people at different times, and he declared the
whole of them to be spell-bound. In one case he said that if
the person had not come so soon, in about a fortnight he would
have been in the asylum; another would have had his leg broken;
and in every case something very direful would have happened.
Numerous incantations have been performed. In the case of a
captain of a vessel, a visit was paid to the sea-side, and
while the ‘wise man’ uttered some unintelligible gibberish,
the captain had to throw a stone into the sea. So heavy was
the spell under which he laboured, and which immediately fell
upon the ‘wise man,’ that the latter pretended that he could
scarcely walk back to Hayle. The most abominable part of the
incantations is performed during the hours of midnight, and
for that purpose the wretch sleeps with his victims, and for
five nights following he had five different bed-fellows.
Having no doubt reaped a pretty good harvest during the week,
he returned to his home on Monday; but such was the pretended
effect produced by the different spells and witchcraft that
fell upon him from his many dupes, that two of the young men
who had been under his charge were obliged to obtain a horse
and cart and carry him to the Hayle station. One of the men,
having had ‘two spells’ resting on him, the ‘wise man’ was
obliged to sleep with him on Saturday and Sunday nights, having
spent the whole of the Sunday in his diabolical work. It is
time that the police, or some other higher authorities, should
take the matter up, as the person alluded to is well known, and
frequently visited by the ignorant and superstitious.”

THE CASE OF GROSS SUPERSTITION AT HAYLE.

“In the _West Briton_ of the 27th ult. we gave some particulars
of several cases of disgraceful fraud and delusion which had
been practised by a pretended ‘wise man’ from Illogan, and
of gross superstition and gullibility on the part of his
dupes. A correspondent has furnished us with the following
particulars relative to the antecedents of the pretended
conjurer. He states that James Thomas, the conjurer from the
parish of Illogan, married some time since the late celebrated
Tammy Blee, of Redruth, who afterwards removed to Helston and
carried on as a fortune-teller, but parted from her husband,
James Thomas, on account of a warrant for his apprehension
having been issued against him by the magistrates of St Ives,
for attempting to take a spell from Mrs Paynter, through her
husband, William Paynter, who stated before the magistrates
that he wanted to commit a disgraceful offence. Thomas then
absconded, and was absent from the west of Cornwall for upwards
of two years. His wife then stated that the virtue was in
her and not in him; that she was of the real ‘Pellar’ blood;
and that he could tell nothing but through her. His greatest
dupes have been at St Just and Hayle, and other parts of the
west of Cornwall. He has been in the habit of receiving money
annually for keeping witchcraft from vessels sailing out of
Hayle. He slept with several of his dupes recently; and about
a fortnight since he stated that he must sleep with certain
young men at Copperhouse, Hayle, in order to protect them
from something that was hanging over them, one of them being
a mason and another a miner, the two latter lately from St
Just. He said himself this week at Truro that he had cured a
young man of St Erth, and was going on Saturday again to take
a spell from the father, a tin smelter. He has caused a great
disturbance amongst the neighbours, by charging some with
having bewitched others. He is a drunken, disgraceful, beastly
fellow, and ought to be sent to the treadmill. One of the young
men is now thoroughly ashamed of himself to think he has been
duped so by this scoundrel. We have purposely withheld the
names of a number of Thomas’s egregious dupes, with which our
correspondent has furnished us, believing that the badgering
which they have doubtless received from their friends has
proved a sufficient punishment to them, and that their eyes are
now thoroughly opened to the gross and disgraceful imposture
that has been practised upon them.”

The following is from the _Western Morning News_:—

CALLING A WOMAN A WITCH.

“At the Liskeard police court, on Monday, Harriet King appeared
before the sitting magistrates charged with an assault on
Elizabeth Wellington. The complainant had called the mother of
defendant a witch, and said she had ill-wished a person, and
the ill wish fell on the cat, and the cat died. This annoyed
the daughter, who retaliated by bad words and blows. The
magistrates expressed surprise at the cause of the assault,
but as that had been proved, they fined defendant 1s. and the
costs, £1 in all.”

ILL-WISHING.

I give the following notices as I receive them:—“I caant altogether exackly bleve in wiches at al,” said a good dame to us; “but this I can tell ee, our John’s wife quarrelled once with her next door neighbor’s wife, and when John come home, like a husband always should, he took up for his wife, ‘northin but nat’r’l chiel was a.’ Well, the woman took a nif, and for a long time never spoke to our John; at laast, after a bit, she used to speak to un, and like as if a was all over, and she used to speak quite sochebl’ like. Well, John alleas was very well when he used to meet her, but as soon as ever he got underground, he was tooken ill to wonce; when a dedn’t meet her, a was well enuf. Well, John was advised to go to the ‘Peller,’ and off he went to Helstun sure nuf, and the ‘Peller’ towld un to come so many times in three months, and do something anorther, and towld un who a was that hoverlooked un, and a was that vere woman. Well, the ‘Peller’ towld John that if a dedn’t do it, a would very likely die sudden. Our John, dear fellow, came home, and got unbelieving, and dedn’t do as a was towld. Wat was the konsikense? Why, in less than three months a was a dead man. Not as I believe the woman’s a witch—no, not I; but she had a evil mind, and what’s so bad as a evil mind?”

“I used to have a woman meeting me,” said a fisherman, “when I went a-fishing; and she used to wish me ‘a good catch’ every time she seed me, and I was always sure to have no luck whenever I met her; luck used to be good enough other times. Well, I went to the ‘Peller,’ and done what he told me I done, and the woman came and begged my pardon, and my luck was good enough after that.” To what purpose he had been lucky I could not divine, for he was miserably clad, and I learned that his family were, like himself, miserable and degraded.

In a certain cordwainer’s workshop, which we could name, the following important information was afforded by a lady customer. The worthy tradesman was bewailing the loss of a good-sized pig that had sickened, and being afraid it would die, he had drowned it, to make its death easier:—“If thee’st only towld me afore, tha peg wud a bean wel enuf in a week, I knaw. That peg wus begruged thee, thas the way a wudn’ thrive. I’ll tel ee wat mi faathur dun wonse. He wont hof to pausans[41] an’ bot a bra purty letle peg, an’ as a wus cumin home wed’en, a womun seed un, an’ axed faathur to sell un to hur fur five shelins fur his bargin. Shaan’t sell un, saze faathur. Mite sa wel, saze she, an’ off she went. Faathur tendud un an’ tended un, an’ a wudn’ grough a mossel. Wy? A was begruged, thas wot a was. Wel, faathur wen’ off, an’ he wos towld to go hom an fill a botel with waater, an’ bere un in the cawl. Faathur dun so, an’ a wuden long afore the wumun caame to faathur an’ axed un wat had a dun by hur, for she suffered agonies; an’ if heed only _forgive_ hur, she’d nevur do so nevur no mure. So faathur went to the cawl hus, an’ brok the botel. She was at once relieved, an’ the peg got wel enuf aftur. I can tel ee, ef thee’s honle dun that, a wud ben wel enuf, if a wusn’d pisind.”

“Well,” said one of the company, “I believe I was ill-wished once. I had a great beautiful cage, full of pretty canaries. I hung them out one Sunday morning, and a woman came along and asked me to let her have one of my birds. ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘for half-a-crown.’ She said she shouldn’t buy none. I told her I would not give her one, and off she went. That day week I had not a bird left; everybody said they was bethought me, and I suppose they were; but this I do know, I lost all my canaries.”

Carne, in his “Legend of Pacorra,” well expresses the belief in the power of ill wishes:—“Thriven!” said the woman, with a bitter laugh; “not if my curse could avail, should they thrive! and it has availed,” she continued, in a lower tone. “You know the wasting illness that’s fallen on all that cruel faggot, Dame Tredray’s children, that said they ought to thraw me from the head of Tol-y-pedden, and that I should neither be broken nor drowned; and the hard squire of Pendine, that would ha’ had me burned in the great bonfire upon the bicking,[42] because King Harry had a son born,—has he ever left his bed since, or will he ever again, ken ye?”

THE “PELLER.”

A man who has resided at several places on the south coast was known by this name. He is said to be in possession of no end of charms, and to possess powers, of no common order, over this and the other world. “He is able,” writes a friend, “to put ghosts, hobgoblins, and, I believe, even Satan himself, to rest. I have known farmers, well informed in many other matters, and members of religious bodies, go to the ‘Peller’ to have the ‘spirits that possessed the calves’ driven out; for they, the calves, ‘were so wild, they tore down all the wooden fences and gates, and must be possessed with the devil.’

“The ‘Peller’ always performs a cure; but as the evil spirits must go somewhere, and as it is always to be feared that they may enter into other calves or pigs, or, it may be, even possess the bodies of their owners themselves, the ‘Peller’ makes it imperative that a stone wall shall be built around the calves, to confine them for three times seven days, or until the next moon is as old as the present one. This precaution always results in taming the devils and the calves, and consequently in curing them—the ‘Peller’ usually sending the spirits to some very remote region, and chaining them down under granite rocks.”

An old woman had long suffered from debility; but she and her friends were satisfied that she had been ill-wished. So she went to the “Peller.” He told her to buy a bullock’s heart, and get a packet of pound pins. She was to stick the heart as full of pins as she could, and “the body that ill-wished her felt every pin run into the bullock’s heart same as if they had been run into her.” The spell was taken off, and the old woman grew strong.

An old man living on Lady Downs had a lot of money stolen from his house. He, too, went to the “Peller.” In this case the magician performed the spells, and the man was told the money would be returned. After a few days, it was so; the money, during the night, was tied to the handle of the door, and found there by the owner in the morning.

BEWITCHED CATTLE.

A farmer, who possessed broad acres, and who was in many respects a sensible man, was greatly annoyed to find that his cattle became diseased in the spring. Nothing could satisfy him but that they were bewitched, and he was resolved to find out the person who had cast the evil eye on his oxen. According to an anciently-prescribed rule, the farmer took one of his bullocks and bled it to death, catching all the blood on bundles of straw. The bloody straw was then piled into a heap, and set on fire. Burning with a vast quantity of smoke, the farmer expected to see the witch, either in reality or in shadow, amidst the smoke.

In this particular case he was to some extent gratified. An old woman who lived in the adjoining village noticing the fire and smoke,—with all a woman’s curiosity,—went to Farmer ——’s field to see what was going on. She was instantly pounced on by this superstitious man, and he would no doubt have seriously ill-treated her, had not the poor, and now terrified, old soul, who roused her neighbours by her cries, been rescued by them. Every person knew this poor woman to be a most inoffensive and good creature, and consequently the farmer was only laughed at for sacrificing thus foolishly one of his oxen.

Another farmer living in one of the western parishes was constantly losing his cattle in the spring. Many persons said this was because they were nearly starved during the winter, but he insisted upon it that he was ill-wished, and that a blight was upon him.

At length, to break the spell, and discover the witch, he betook himself to a conjuror (white witch) who lived near the Lizard Point. This learned person, of whom several other facts are told in these pages, told the farmer to bleed the next animal when taken ill, and to receive the blood upon straw, being careful not to lose any of it. Then the straw and blood were to be burnt, and whilst the blood was burning he would be certain of seeing the witch pass through the smoke.

A young steer fell ill first; it was bled as ordered, the blood caught upon the straw, and both carefully burnt. While this was going on, female curiosity induced a poor weak old woman to go into the field and see what was going on. She was well known to all, and as guiltless as a child of ill-wishing any body, but she was seen through the smoke darted upon by the farmer, and cruelly ill-treated.

HOW TO BECOME A WITCH.

Touch a Logan stone nine times at midnight, and any woman will become a witch. A more certain plan is said to be—To get on the Giant’s Rock at Zennor Church-Town nine times without shaking it. Seeing that this rock was at one time a very sensitive Logan stone, the task was somewhat difficult.

CORNISH SORCERERS.

The powers of the sorcerer appear to have been passed on from father to son through a long succession of generations. There are many families—the descendants from the ancient Cornish people—who are even yet supposed to possess remarkable powers of one kind or another. Several families, which have become extinct, are more especially reputed by tradition to have had dealings with the bad spirits, and many of them to have made compacts with the Evil One himself. Amongst the most curious of the stories once told,—I believe they are nearly all forgotten,—are those connected with Pengerswick Castle. A small tower alone remains to note the site of a once famous fortified place. This castle was said to have been occupied, in the time of Henry VIII., by a man who had committed some great crime; but long previous to that period the place was famous for its wickedness.[43]

HOW PENGERSWICK BECAME A SORCERER.

The first Pengerswick, by whom the castle, which still bears his name, was built, was a proud man, and desired to ally himself with some of the best families of Cornwall. He wished his son to wed a lady who was very much older than himself, who is said to have been connected with the Godolphin family. This elderly maiden had a violent desire either for the young man or the castle—it is not very clear which. The young Pengerswick gave her no return for the manifestations of love which she lavished upon him. Eventually, finding all her attempts to win the young man’s love were abortive, and that all the love potions brewed for her by the Witch of Fraddam were of no avail, she married the old lord—mainly, it is said, to be revenged on the son.

The witch had a niece who, though poor, possessed considerable beauty; she was called Bitha. This young girl was frequently employed by her aunt and the lady of Godolphin to aid them in their spells on the young Pengerswick, and, as a natural consequence, she fell desperately in love with him herself. Bitha ingratiated herself with the lady of Pengerswick, now the stepmother of the young man, and was selected as her maid. This gave her many opportunities of seeing and speaking to young Pengerswick, and her passion increased. The old stepdame was still passionately fond of the young man, and never let a chance escape her which she thought likely to lead to the excitement of passion in his heart towards her. In all her attempts she failed. Her love was turned to hate; and having seen her stepson in company with Bitha, this hate was quickened by the more violent jealousy. Every means which her wicked mind could devise were employed to destroy the young man. Bitha had learned from her aunt, the Witch of Fraddam, much of her art, and she devoted herself to counteract the spells of her mistress.

The stepmother, failing to accomplish her ends, resolved to ruin young Pengerswick with his father. She persuaded the old man that his son really entertained a violent passion for her, and that she was compelled to confine herself to her tower in fear. The aged woman prevailed on Lord Pengerswick to hire a gang of outlandish sailors to carry his son away and sell him for a slave, giving him to believe that she should herself in a short time present him with an heir.

The young Pengerswick escaped all their plots, and at his own good time he disappeared from the castle, and for a long period was never heard of.

The mistress and maid plotted and counter-plotted to secure the old Pengerswick’s wealth; and when he was on his deathbed, Bitha informed him of the vile practices of his wife, and consoled him with the information that he was dying from the effects of poison given him by her.

The young lord, after long years, returned from some Eastern lands with a princess for his wife, learned in all the magic sciences of those enchanted lands. He found his stepmother shut up in her chamber, with her skin covered with scales like a serpent, from the effects of the poisons which she had so often been distilling for the old lord and his son. She refused to be seen, and eventually cast herself into the sea, to the relief of all parties.

Bitha fared not much better. She lived on the Downs in St Hilary; and from the poisonous fumes she had inhaled, and from her dealings with the devil, her skin became of the colour of that of _a toad_.

THE LORD OF PENGERSWICK AN ENCHANTER.

The Lord of Pengerswick came from some Eastern clime, bringing with him a foreign lady of great beauty. She was considered by all an “outlandish” woman; and by many declared to be a “Saracen.”[44] No one, beyond the selected servants, was ever allowed within the walls of Pengerswick Castle; and they, it was said, were bound by magic spells. No one dared tell of anything transacted within the walls; consequently all was conjecture amongst the neighbouring peasantry, miners, and fishermen. Certain it was, they said, that Pengerswick would shut himself up for days together in his chamber, burning strange things, which sent their strong odours,—not only to every part of the castle,—but for miles around the country. Often at night, and especially in stormy weather, Pengerswick was heard for hours together calling up the spirits, by reading from his books in some unknown tongue. On those occasions his voice would roll through the halls louder than the surging waves which beat against the neighbouring rocks, the spirits replying like the roar of thunder. Then would all the servants rush in fright from the building, and remain crowded together, even in the most tempestuous night, in one of the open courts. Fearful, indeed, would be the strife between the man and the demons; and it sometimes happened that the spirits were too powerful for the enchanter. He was, however, constantly and carefully watched by his wife; and whenever the strife became too serious, her harp was heard making the softest, the sweetest music. At this the spirits fled; and they were heard passing through the air towards the Land’s-End, moaning like the soughing of a departing storm. The lights would then be extinguished in the enchanter’s tower, and all would be peace. The servants would return to their apartments with a feeling of perfect confidence. They feared their master, but their mistress inspired them with love. Lady Pengerswick was never seen beyond the grounds surrounding the castle. She sat all day in lonely state and pride in her tower, the lattice-window of her apartment being high on the seaward side. Her voice accompanying the music of her harp was rarely heard, but when she warbled the soft love strains of her Eastern land. Often at early dawn the very fishes of the neighbouring bay would raise their heads above the surface of the waters, enchanted by the music and the voice; and it is said that the mermaids from the Lizard, and many of the strange spirits of the waters, would come near to Pengerswick cove, drawn by the same influence. On moonlight nights the air has often seemed to be full of sound, and yet the lady’s voice was seldom louder than that of a warbling bird. On these occasions, men have seen thousands of spirits gliding up and down the moonbeams, and floating idly on the silvered waves, listening to, and sometimes softly echoing, the words which Lady Pengerswick sang. Long did this strange pair inhabit this lonely castle; and although the Lord of Pengerswick frequently rode abroad on a most magnificent horse—which had the reputation of being of Satanic origin, it was at once so docile to its master and so wild to any other person,—yet he made no acquaintance with any of the neighbouring gentry. He was feared by all, and yet they respected him for many of the good deeds performed by him. He completely enthralled the Giants of the Mount; and before he disappeared from Cornwall, they died, owing, it was said, to grief and want of food.

Where the Lord of Pengerswick came from, no one knew; he, with his lady, with two attendants, who never spoke in any but an Eastern tongue, which was understood by none around them, made their appearance one winter’s day, mounted on beautiful horses, evidently from Arabia or some distant land.

They soon—having gold in abundance—got possession of a cottage; and in a marvellously short time the castle, which yet bears his name, was rebuilt by this lord. Many affirm that the lord by the force of his enchantments, and the lady by the spell of her voice, compelled the spirits of the earth and air to work for them; and that three nights were sufficient to rear an enormous pile, of which but one tower now remains.

Their coming was sudden and mysterious; their going was still more so. Years had rolled on, and the people around were familiarised with those strange neighbours, from whom also they derived large profits, since they paid whatsoever price was demanded for any article which they required. One day a stranger was seen in Market-Jew, whose face was bronzed by long exposure to an Eastern sun. No one knew him; and he eluded the anxious inquiries of the numerous gossips, who were especially anxious to learn something of this man, who, it was surmised by every one, must have some connexion with Pengerswick or his lady; yet no one could assign any reason for such a supposition. Week after week passed away, and the stranger remained in the town, giving no sign. Wonder was on every old woman’s lips, and expressed in every old man’s eyes; but they had to wonder on. One thing, it was said, had been noticed; and this seemed to confirm the suspicions of the people. The stranger wandered out on dark nights—spent them, it was thought, on the sea-shore; and some fishermen said they had seen him seated on the rock at the entrance of the valley of Pengerswick. It was thought that the lord kept more at home than usual, and of late no one had heard his incantation songs and sounds; neither had they heard the harp of the lady. A very tempestuous night, singular for its gloom—when even the ordinary light, which, on the darkest night, is evident to the traveller in the open country, did not exist—appears to have brought things to their climax. There was a sudden alarm in Market-Jew, a red glare in the eastern sky, and presently a burst of flames above the hill, and St Michael’s Mount was illuminated in a remarkable manner. Pengerswick Castle was on fire; the servants fled in terror; but neither the lord nor his lady could be found. From that day to the present they were lost to all.

The interior of the castle was entirely destroyed; not a vestige of furniture, books, or anything belonging to the “Enchanter” could be found. He and everything belonging to him had vanished; and, strange to tell, from that night the bronzed stranger was never again seen. The inhabitants of Market-Jew naturally crowded to the fire; and when all was over they returned to their homes, speculating on the strange occurrences of the night. Two of the oldest people always declared that, when the flames were at the highest, they saw two men and a lady floating in the midst of the fire, and that they ascended from amidst the falling walls, passed through the air like lightning, and disappeared.

THE WITCH OF FRADDAM AND THE ENCHANTER OF PENGERSWICK.

Again and again had the Lord of Pengerswick reversed the spells of the Witch of Fraddam, who was reported to be the most powerful weird woman in the west country. She had been thwarted so many times by this “white witch,” that she resolved to destroy him by some magic more potent than anything yet heard of. It is said that she betook herself to Kynance Cove, and that there she raised the devil by her incantations, and that she pledged her soul to him in return for the aid he promised. The enchanter’s famous mare was to be seduced to drink from a tub of poisoned water placed by the roadside, the effect of which was to render him in the highest degree restive, and cause him to fling his rider. The wounded Lord of Pengerswick was, in his agony, to be drenched, by the old witch, with some hell-broth, brewed in the blackest night, under the most evil aspects of the stars; by this he would be in her power for ever, and she might torment him as she pleased. The devil felt certain of securing the soul of the Witch of Fraddam, but he was less certain of securing that of the enchanter. They say, indeed, that the sorcery which Pengerswick learned in the East was so potent, that the devil feared him. However, as the proverb is, he held with the hounds and ran with the hare. The witch collected with the utmost care all the deadly things she could obtain, with which to brew her famous drink. In the darkest night, in the midst of the wildest storms, amidst the flashings of lightnings and the bellowings of the thunder, the witch was seen riding on her black ram-cat over the moors and mountains in search of her poisons. At length all was complete—the horse drink was boiled, the hell-broth was brewed. It was in March, about the time of the equinox; the night was dark, and the King of Storms was abroad. The witch planted her tub of drink in a dark lane, through which she knew the Lord of Pengerswick must pass, and near to it she sat, croning over her crock of broth. The witch-woman had not long to wait; amidst the hurrying winds was heard the heavy tramp of the enchanter’s mare, and soon she perceived the outline of man and horse defined sharply against the line of lurid light which stretched along the western horizon. On they came; the witch was scarcely able to contain herself—her joy and her fears, struggling one with the other, almost overpowered her. On came the horse and his rider: they neared the tub of drink; the mare snorted loudly, and her eyes flashed fire as she looked at the black tub by the roadside. Pengerswick bent him over the horse’s neck and whispered into her ear; she turns round, and, flinging out her heels, with one kick she scattered all to the wild winds. The tub flew before the blow; it rushed against the crock, which it overturned, and striking against the legs of the old Witch of Fraddam, she fell along with the tub, which assumed the shape of a coffin. Her terror was extreme: she who thought to have unhorsed the conjuror, found herself in a carriage for which she did not bargain. The enchanter raised his voice and gave utterance to some wild words in an unknown tongue, at which even his terrible mare trembled. A whirlwind arose, and the devil was in the midst of it. He took the coffin in which lay the terrified witch high into the air, and the crock followed them. The derisive laughter of Pengerswick, and the savage neighing of the horse, were heard above the roar of the winds. At length, with a satisfied tone, he exclaimed, “She is settled till the day of doom,” gave the mare the spurs, and rode rapidly home.

The Witch of Fraddam still floats up and down, over the seas, around the coast, in her coffin, followed by the crock, which seems like a punt in attendance on a jolly-boat. She still works mischief, stirring up the sea with her ladle and broom till the waves swell into mountains, which heave off from their crests, so much mist and foam, that these wild wanderers of the winds can scarcely be seen through the mist. Woe to the mariner who sees the witch!

The Lord of Pengerswick alone had power over her. He had but to stand on his tower, and blow three blasts on his trumpet, to summon her to the shore, and compel her to peace.

TREWA, OR TREWE; THE HOME OF WITCHES.

As we walk from Nancledrea Bottoms towards Zennor we pass Trewa, (pronounced _Truee_,) which is said to have been the place where at midsummer all the witches of the west met. Here are the remains of very ancient tin stream works, and these, I was informed, “were the remains of bals which had been worked before the deluge; there was nothing so old anywhere else in Cornwall.” Around us, on the hillsides and up the bottoms, huge boulders of granite are most fantastically scattered. All these rocks sprang from the ground at the call of the giants. At Embla Green we still see the ruins of the Giant’s House, but all we know of this Titan is that he was the king. On one side we have the “Giant’s Well,” and not far off the “Druid’s Well,” and a little before us is Zennor coit or cromlech.

From this point the scenery is of the wildest description. The granite cairns are spread around in every direction, and many of those masses are so strangely fashioned by the atmospheric influences ever acting on them, that fancy can readily fashion them into tombs and temples. Rock basins abound on these hills, and of ruined cromlechs there are many. Whatever the local historians may say, local traditions assure us that on Midsummer Eve all the witches in Penwith gathered here, and that they lit fires on every cromlech, and in every rock basin, until the hills were alive with flame, and renewed their vows to the evil ones from whom they derived their power. Hence, to this day this place is called Burn Downs. Amidst these rock masses there was one pile remarkable amidst all the others for its size, and—being formed of cubical masses—for its square character. This was known as the Witches’ Rock, and here it was said they assembled at midnight to carry on their wicked deeds. This rock has been removed, and with it the witches have died; the last real witch in Zennor having passed away, as I have been told, about thirty years since, and with her, some say, the fairies fled. I have, however, many reasons for believing that our little friends have still a few haunts in this locality. There is but one reason why we should regret the disappearance of the Witches’ Rock. _Any one touching this rock nine times at midnight was insured against bad luck._

KENIDZHEK WITCH.

On the tract called the “Gump,” near Kenidzhek, is a beautiful well of clear water, not far from which was a miner’s cot, in which dwelt two miners with their sister. They told her never to go to the well after daylight; they would fetch the water for her. However, on one Saturday night she had forgotten to get in a supply for the morrow, so she went off to the well. Passing by a gap in a broken-down hedge (called a _gurgo_) near the well, she saw an old woman sitting down, wrapped in a red shawl; she asked her what she did there at that time of night, but received no reply; she thought this rather strange, but plunged her pitcher in the well; when she drew it up, though a perfectly sound vessel, it contained no water; she tried again and again, and, though she saw the water rushing in at the mouth of the pitcher, it was sure to be empty when lifted out. She then became rather frightened; spoke again to the old woman, but receiving no answer, hastened away, and came in great alarm to her brothers. They told her that it was on account of this old woman they did not wish her to go to the well at night. What she saw was the ghost of old Moll, a witch who had been a great terror to the people in her lifetime, and had laid many fearful spells on them. They said they saw her sitting in the gap by the wall every night when going to bed.

THE WITCHES OF THE LOGAN STONE.

Who that has travelled into Cornwall but has visited the Logan Stone? Numerous Logan rocks exist on the granite hills of the county, but that remarkable mass which is poised on the cubical masses forming its Cyclopean support, at Trereen, is beyond all others “The Logan Stone.”

A more sublime spot could not have been chosen by the Bardic priesthood for any ordeal connected with their worship; and even admitting that nature may have disposed the huge mass to wear away, so as to rest delicately poised on a pivot, it is highly probable that the wild worship of the untrained tribes, who had passed to those islands from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, may have led them to believe that some superhuman power belonged to such a strangely-balanced mass of rock.

Nothing can be more certain than that through all time, passing on from father to son, there has been a wild reverence of this mass of rock; and long after the days when the Druid ceased to be, there is every reason for believing that the Christian priests, if they did not encourage, did not forbid, the use of this and similar rocks to be used as places of ordeal by the uneducated and superstitious people around.

Hence the mass of rock on which is poised the Logan Stone has ever been connected with the supernatural. To the south of the Logan Rock is a high peak of granite, towering above the other rocks; this is known as the Castle Peak.

No one can say for how long a period, but most certainly for ages, this peak has been the midnight rendezvous for witches. Many a man, and woman too, now sleeping quietly in the churchyard of St Levan, would, had they the power, attest to having seen the witches flying into the Castle Peak on moonlight nights, mounted on the stems of the ragwort, (_Senécio Jacobæa Linn_,) and bringing with them the things necessary to make their charms potent and strong.

This place was long noted as the gathering-place of the army of witches who took their departure for Wales, where they would luxuriate at the most favoured seasons of the year upon the milk of the Welshmen’s cows. From this peak many a struggling ship has been watched by a malignant crone, while she has been brewing the tempest to destroy it; and many a rejoicing chorus has been echoed, in horror, by the cliffs around, when the witches have been croaking their miserable delight over the perishing crews, as they have watched man, woman, and child drowning, whom they were presently to rob of the treasures they were bringing home from other lands.

Upon the rocks behind the Logan Rock it would appear that every kind of mischief which can befall man or beast was once brewed by the St Levan witches.

MADGY FIGGY’S CHAIR.

All those who have visited the fine piles of rocks in the vicinity of the so-called “St Levan,” Land’s-End, called Tol-pedden-Penwith,—and infinitely finer than anything immediately surrounding the most western promontory itself,—cannot have failed to notice the arrangement of cubical masses of granite piled one upon the other, known as the _Chair Ladder_.