Chapter XIII: Part V (3)

The conflict of opinion which gave rise to the French Revolution, has but one parallel in the history of mankind; in the mental agitation, almost amounting to phrensy, which accompanied and urged forward the great change of religion three centuries before. That agitation and conflict still divides Europe, although with diminished violence; and possibly, therefore, an equal period may elapse before the questions, relative to civil government and social order, shall have received their final settlement, if, indeed, the period is ever to arrive.

Most of those in the dawn of youth possessed of eager minds and liberal sentiments, were borne along by the torrent of passions, excited by new systems, promising universal happiness, with increased wisdom and virtue; founded on plans for reconstructing human society, derived, it was said, from philosophical investigation, to be substituted in the place of patched and mended institutions, originating with savages in the forests of Scandinavia.

But Sir Francis Basset had the advantage of several years passed in active experience with the world. He had learnt that the human faculties are unequal to the formation of systems _a priori_, but must submit to follow the more humble course of adaptation, tentative experiment, and induction; and it was manifest that the new political reasoners had entirely omitted to consider the real nature of the ὑλη αμεταχειριστη forming the wide basis of society; or that they were devising plans not suited to the actual state of things, but to one which they fondly imagined was about to be.

Every page of history, moreover, might prove to those willing or desirous of obtaining information from what has actually past, that the crisis of change is invariably bad; and that objects, attained by the sacrifice of an existing generation, have very frequently proved of less value than those for which they had been substituted. Parties, from their very natures, are known to run into extremes; it is probable, therefore, that the leaders opposed to Mr. Pitt professed much greater admiration of the new principles than they really felt; such professions were, however, made; and Sir Francis Basset concurring in opinion with many of the wisest, the best informed, and of those most deeply interested in the welfare of the country, that the safety of the state was at issue, added his weight to what would now be termed the Conservative scale.

Sir Francis Basset, so distinguished by personal qualities and attainments, by the antiquity of his family, by the achievements of his ancestors, and by fortune, had long been designated in public opinion as a person proper to be placed in the House of Peers; and accordingly, on the 17th of July 1796, an hereditary seat in Parliament was bestowed on him by the King, together with the nominal Barony of Dunstanville, so called after Barons of that name, in the time of Henry the First, Henry the Second, Richard Cœur de Lion, John, and Henry the Third, who were equally connected with his family and with the reigning family of Plantagenet.

A second creation took place on the 7th of November in the following year, of Baron Basset, with a special remainder to his daughter in failure of male issue.

Lord Dunstanville has from this period continued to support the genuine character of a dignified English gentleman; discharging his parliamentary duties in the manner deemed most useful to the interests of his country; executing the office of a magistrate to the benefit, and to the entire satisfaction, of his neighbourhood; setting an example most worthy of general imitation, as the possessor of an extensive landed estate, and as a most liberal proprietor of mines. Kind and benevolent to every one, esteemed in the highest degree by his private friends and relations, and certainly placed by general acclamation, in regard to all these qualities and circumstances taken together, as by far the first man in the county which he has benefited and adorned.

The Editor has written this imperfect and inadequate sketch of Lord Dunstanville with a heavy heart; for although his countenance brightens at the presence of a friend, and memory still presents some images of things past by, and reason continues to discriminate the ideas brought into view, yet such are the ways of Providence, leading, as we hope, believe, and trust to universal good, that a wreck only remains of what used to excite our admiration, our respect, and our esteem.

Lord Dunstanville married, May the 16th 1780, Frances Susanna, daughter of John Hippesley Cox, Esq. of Stone Easton in Somersetshire, who has left an only daughter, the Hon. Frances Basset. He married secondly, Harriet, daughter of Sir William Lemon.

Illoggan measures 8,028 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 11,334 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1887 0 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2895 | 4078 | 5170 | 6072
giving an increase of 110 per cent. very nearly, in 30 years.
The present rector, the Rev. George Treweeke, presented
by Lord de Dunstanville in 1822.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

This extensive parish resembles that of Camborne in its geological structure. Its southern portion rests on granite, which at Carnarthen abounds in shorl; and at Carnkie it contains a bed of porphyry, with crystals of felspar and of shorl; and at the same place another bed, the basis of which more resembles compact shorl rock than it does compact felspar. Near Portreath, and from thence to Perth Towan, the slate appears to differ from that of Camborne; and at Perth Towan it contains short irregular veins of calcareous spar, as at Porthalla in St. Kevern, and at other places on the borders of the calcareous series.

ST. JOHN’S.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of East, and hath upon the north Anthony, east Maker, west Sheviock, south the British channel. The modern name John is derived from the tutelar guardian and patron of the Church, St. John the Evangelist. In the Domesday tax this parish was rated under the district or manor of Makertone. In the Inquisition into the value of Cornish benefices, made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester 1294, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis, in decanatu de Eastwellshire, is valued xl_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 12_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._; the patronage in ――――, the incumbent Tarr. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 72_l._ 0_s._ 8_d._

TONKIN.

The manor of Insworth,

A Peninsula on whose neck, says Mr. Carew, standeth an ancient house of the Champernons; and descended by his daughters and heirs to Fortescue, Monck, and Trevilian, three gentlemen of Devon. The site is naturally both pleasant and profitable; to which the owner, by his ingenious experiments, daily addeth an artificial surplusage. Mr. Tonkin then adds, this estate (as I am better informed) being in the parish of Maker, I shall there treat more fully of it.

Sir Richard Champernon, of Madberie in Devon, Knt. had by Catherine his wife, daughter of Ralph Daubeney, Knt. two sons, Richard and John. He died in 1418, and gave this place to the said John, who lived here, and left only one son, a Richard Champernon, who by his wife, the daughter and heir of Sir John Hamley, Knt. left three daughters, one of whom married Humphrey Monck, of Potheridge in Devon, Esq.

The said Sir John Champernon was Sheriff of Cornwall 24 Henry VI. 1445, as his son Richard in the first year of Edward IV. 1461.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Hals has not gone into any particulars respecting this parish; but he has occupied several pages with the real and with the legendary histories of the Evangelist, to whom the Church is dedicated; these are omitted as unsuited to a local history.

Mr. Lysons says, that the manor of Tregenhawke, situated partly in this parish and partly in Rume, and feudatory to the manor of East Anthony, did belong to the family of Eliot, by whom it was alienated in 1635 to Richard Treville, merchant; and that from the Trevilles it passed by coheiresses to the families of Cross and Trelawny. The whole now belongs to Lord Graves, who has also the manor of Withroe, called in this parish Winnow.

The right of presentation is appendant to the honour of East Anthony.

An excavation in the cliff at Whitsand Bay is noticed as having been made by Mr. Luggan, the proprietor of a farm called Freathy, by way of exercise and amusement.

The church is, perhaps, of less dimensions than any other in Cornwall, being no more than fifty-six feet long by eighteen in breadth; it bears the appearance of antiquity, and is decorated by some monuments, one to the family of Beel, with their arms, Azure, three griffins’ heads erased Argent.

This parish measures 872 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1,016 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 108 19 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 110 | 143 | 178 | 150
giving an increase of about 36 per cent. in 30 years.
Present rector, the Rev. William Rowe, instituted in 1808.

Dr. Boase says of the geology of this little parish, that its rocks are precisely similar to those of East Anthony, to which it adjoins; and may almost be considered as forming a part.

ST. ISSEY.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Pedyr, and hath upon the north the channel of Padstow habour, south and east St. Breoch and part of St. Colomb, west little Pedyrick. In Domesday roll 20 William I. 1087, this district was taxed either under the jurisdiction of Polton or Burge, now Burgus (i. e. Turris). In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish benefices, Ecclesia de Sancti Issei, in decanatu de Pedyr, is rated iiii_l._ vi_s._ viii_d._ Vicar ejusdem xlvi_s._ viii_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition 9_l._; the patronage in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter; the incumbent Harris, the rectory in Wright. The parish is rated to the 4_s._ in the pound Land Tax 1696, 161_l._

There hath been for many ages in Cornwall, a certain sort of unlearned men called attornies, who have taken upon them to solve all questions, debts, damages, and difficulties whatsoever, by exciting or increasing them, under pretence of friendship and good council, who are often called upon to the assistance of men of lazy or weak understanding to their undoing.

For instance thereof, I well remember in this parish of St. Issey there had lived two brethren of the surname of Warne, who having some small disputes or controversies one with the other, not determined, concerning a tenement of land in fee, containing about fifty acres, at a place called ――――; they appealed to two attornies, viz. Joseph Hawkey, of St. Colomb, and Degory King, of St. Breock in Pider, who run this their controversy so far in law and equity, that they were not able to pay the cost thereof as punctually as those attornies expected; thereupon they brought actions at law against their clients for the same, and at length obliged the two brothers of the Warnes aforesaid, to sell the inheritance of their lands aforesaid to their attornies, the one half thereof to Hawkey and the other moiety thereof to King, now in quiet possession thereof.

The inhabitants of this parish will tell you by tradition, that the tutelar guardian of this church is one St. Giggy, who in a place so called in this parish, hath yet extant a walled consecrated well, or spring of water, where heretofore he heard and judged cases of conscience for the cure of souls; but all further history of him is wanting, save that they tell me St. Issey is only a corruption of Giggy.

Hale-wyn in this parish (or Hall-wyn, the fair or white hill, as Hal is a hill, and Wyn or Gwyn white or fair. Goonwyn in Lelant the fair downs; Hale is a moor. Whitaker.) This lordship was from Edward the Fourth’s days one of the dwellings of the Champernons, of Intsworth, near Saltash; and in this place they had a great and magnificent house, as appears from the walls and ruinous rubbish and downfalls thereof yet to be seen, as also their domestic chapel and burying place; in the glass windows of which chapel was lately to be seen this inscription: “Orate pro anima Domini Ricardi de Campo Arnulphi;” and beneath the same his paternal coat armour, viz. Gules, a saltire Varry, between twelve cross-crosslets Or; which shews that he derived his blood and bones from the Champernownes, of Clyst Champernowne in Devon. For the Champernownes of Umberleigh and North Taunton, near Modbury, gave for their armes, the one Gules, a saltire Varry; the other, Gules, a saltire Varry between twelve billets Argent. [The name is originally Latin, De Campo Arnulphi, then formed by the Norman French into Champernulph, and finally formed by them, or by the Cornish, into Champernown. Whitaker.]

Cannall-Lidgye in this parish is the voke lands of a considerable manor, now in several persons’ hands; much of those lands being in possession of Boscawen as I take it; the high rents are in Hart. As part of the same, is the possession and birthplace of my very kind friend and neighbour Thomas Carthew, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, who by his indefatigable study and labour, first in the inferior practice of the law under Mr. Tregena, without being a perfect Latin grammarian, always using the English words for matters or things in his declarations, where he understood not the Latin; who was at length, by a mandamus from the Lord Keeper North, called to the bar, and the generous practice of the law for some years, when afterwards in the latter end of the reign of King William the Third, he had a call for being made a Sergeant-at-Law, under which circumstance he grew into such great fame and reputation that he is likely to make a considerable addition of riches to his paternal estate.

He married North, a relation to the Lord Keeper North aforesaid; his father, Baker, of Lanteglos, by Fowey; his grandfather Lawry; and giveth for his arms, Argent, a chevron Azure, between three ducks Proper. The name is local, compounded of Car-dew, or Car-thew, i. e. Rock Black in this parish. Long since the writing hereof, those his lands of Canaligye are all sold by Mr. Carthew’s son and heir to two of the brothers of Trebilliocks.

Trevance in this parish, i. e. the town upon the rising or advanced land, is the dwelling of Richard Harris, Gent. that married Vivyan, of Tollskidy; his father Moyle.

Tre-vor-ike in this parish, [Pryce, in his Archæologia Cornu-Britannica says, Ick I take to signify either a creek, rivulet, or brook, as Trevorick, the town or the brook. Whitaker.] is the dwelling of William Cornish, Gent. that married Cornish, his father Tonkyn; originally descended from one William Cornish that settled here tempore Queen Mary, a Welshman. To this place belongs a sea-mill, a healing or slate stone quarry, and a lime kiln, commonly made in jointure to those gentlemen’s wives, to win whom in marriage this argument amongst others was commonly used,

She that will this Squire marry,
Shall have the mill, the kill, and the quarry;

now all spent and wasted by ill conduct, and those lands sold to a relation of his surnamed Cornish, or some other.

At Carthew, or Legarike, in this parish, is a considerable lead or copper mine in the lands of Bearford or Bond; wherein many labouring tinners are much employed as miners, and reap much benefit thereby, as well as the lords of the lands or soil thereof.

TONKIN.

Mr. Tonkin has not any thing in addition to what is transcribed from Mr. Hals.

THE EDITOR.

The church of this parish is called in some ancient writings, Eglos-Crock and Nansant. The Dean and Chapter of Exeter are impropriators of the great tithes, and patrons of the vicarage. The church is very old, but decorated with a lofty tower; there are monuments to Mr. Thomas Carthew, and to some of the vicars. The church town is the largest village in this parish, and lies nearly midway between Padstow and Wade Bridge. Mr. Lysons says that the manor of St. Ide, extending from this parish into the adjacent parishes of Little Petherick, St. Ervan, Breock, Padstow, and Mawgan, belonged successively to the families of Hiwis, Coleshill, and Arundell, and at a later period to the Morices. It was purchased by the late Mr. Thomas Rawlings, of Padstow.

And Mr. Lysons adds that, Blayble, a small farm in St. Issey, now belonging to Mr. Richard Williams, who occupies it, was at an early period the seat of a branch of the Arundell family.

This parish measures 3,932 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 2,050 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 508 13 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 522 | 632 | 660 | 720
giving an increase of 38 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

Dr. Boase says, that St. Issey has the same geological structure as the adjacent parish of St. Breock.

ST. IVES.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Penwith, and hath upon the east and north the Irish Sea, south Leland, west Tywednick; as for the modern name, it is taken from the tutelar guardian of the Church, which, as Mr. Camden tells us (upon what authority I know not) was one Iia, an Irish woman that preached the Gospel here. In the Domesday Tax, the 20th of William I. 1087, both the town and parish were taxed under the jurisdiction of Ludduham, now Lugian-lese manor, still extant here, formerly pertaining to the King or Earl of Cornwall, now to the Duke of Bolton, of whom the town of St. Ives’ privileges are held; and the same manor is held, as I take it, of the Earl of Cornwall’s Castle of Lancaster under certain rents.

In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of the Cornish benefices 1294, “ecclesia de Lelant in decanatu de Penwith,” is only taxed xxii_l._ xviii_s._ iiii_d._ without mention either of St. Ives or Tywednick, probably at that time they were neither erected or endowed; in Wolsey’s Inquisition 1521, Ewny juxta Lelant and St. Ives are rated together 22_l._ 11_s._ 10½_d._; St. Ewny, that is to say Tywednike, and St. Ives being consolidated in their mother church Lelant, did pass in presentation with it; the patronage in the Bishop of Exeter, who endowed them; the incumbent Hawkins, now Polkinhorn, the rectory in possession of Pitz; and the parish rated at 4_s._ per pound Land Tax 1696, 158_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._

This town, as Mr. Camden saith, was formerly called Pendenis or Pendunes, the head fort, fortress, or fortified place; probably from the little island here, containing about six acres of ground, on which there stands the ruins of a little old fortification and a chapel, betwixt which island and the bending shore, or sea cliff, stands an indifferent safe road for ships to lie at anchor with some winds, which gives opportunity of trade and merchandize to the townsmen (whose town is situate thereon) and also for fishing, whereby they have much enriched themselves of late years.

The manor of Ludduham, formerly comprehending the parishes of Ludduham, Lelant, Tywednick, and St. Ives, now so many districts, is a lordship of great antiquity, and was privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet before the Norman Conquest, for under that name it was then taxed (as aforesaid) though its now transnominated to Luggyan Lese; in which stands the borough of St. Ives, which claims the privileges thereof by prescription and tenure, all which are confirmed by a charter of incorporation from King Charles I. afterwards by another from King James II. by the name of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, which consists of a Mayor, ten Aldermen, and eleven Common Councilmen; the Members of Parliament elected by freemen, alias scot and lot men free there, who sign the indenture; the arms of which borough is a cluster and branch of grapes or pomegranates; and the precept on the writs for electing Members of Parliament from the Sheriff, or removing any action at law depending in the court leet of St. Ives, the writ must be thus directed: Preposits et Burgensibus Burgi sui de St. Ives in Com. Cornub. salutem.

The chief inhabitants of this town are, Mr. Hitchins, Mr. Beer, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Hickes; in which town is held a market weekly on Saturdays, and a fair annually on Saturday before Advent Sunday.

Sir Francis Basset procured their first charter of incorporation, who, being a Burgess, gave a silver cup of 5_l._ value to this corporation for ever, with this inscription,

If any discord doth arise,
Within the borough of St. Ives,
’Tis my desire this cup of love,
An instrument of peace may prove.

Trenwith in this parish, was the voke lands of a considerable manor, privileged with a court leet before the Norman conquest, that heretofore extended itself over divers parishes; for by that name it was taxed in Domesday book, 20 William I. 1087, from which place was transnominated an ancient family of gentlemen, now in possession thereof, from that of Bayliff now to Trenwith, who have flourished here in good fame and reputation beyond the memory of man, since Henry VIII. The present possessor is Thomas Trenwith, Gent. that married Lanyon; and giveth for his arms, Argent, on a bend cotised Sable, three roses of the Field.

Those lands of Trenwith were of old pertaining to the Earls or Kings of Cornwall, afterwards to the Kings of England; and were held by the tenure of knight service by such as possessed them, if not from King Arthur’s days, (see Dundagall) yet from William the Conqueror’s, who, in imitation of him, gave bartons, manors, fields, large territories of land to his favourites, under the tenures of villeinage and knight service in capite, by means of which knight service those tenants were obliged to do him any necessary service, either in wars or to his royal person, for the performing whereof he took their oaths in public courts, both of homage and fealty; and by reason of this tenure he disposed of the bodies of their heirs in marriage as he listed, and retained in his custody and wardship their whole inheritance till they accomplished the age of twenty-one years; and by those examples other men of great possessions did the like. Those lands of Trenwith, tempore Henry IV. were held by that tenure in capite by Edmund Plantagenet, alias Beaufort, Marquess of Dorset, grandchild to John Duke of Lancaster, 21 Henry VI. 1442, consisting of four knights’ fees, 3 Henry IV. (See Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, p. 39). He was slain at the battle of St. Alban’s 1450, on the part of Henry VI. against Richard Duke of York; as also was his son Henry on the same part after the battle of Hexham, and his brother Edmund after Tewkesbury 1471, beheaded by King Edward IV. and his whole estate confiscated to the Crown; from whence Bayliff, now Trenwith, purchased part of those lands, which still pays high rent to the Kings of England. In like manner Humphrey Plantagenet, fourth son of King Henry IV. held by the same tenure in Conerton, Binerton, Drineck, and Ludgian, four knight’s fees of land in those places. He was impeached of treason at the Parliament held at St. Edmund’s Bury in Suffolk; afterwards murdered; and those and all other his lands confiscated.

TONKIN.

This church is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books, together with Lelant and Towednack, with which it passeth in presentation, at 22_l._ 11_s._ 10½_d._; the collation in the Bishop of Exeter; the late incumbent Mr. Hawkins, now Polkinhorne. The sheaf in possession of Edward Noseworthy, Esq.

The town of St. Ives, in Mr. Carew’s days, was of small value or consequence for wealth, buildings, or inhabitants; although it now be much altered in these particulars, and equals several other fellow corporations. Of old it hath been privileged by the Earls of Cornwall with the jurisdiction of a Court Leet, and with sending two Members to Parliament; also with fairs and a weekly market.

On the island (or peninsula) north of St. Ives, standeth the ruins of an old chapel, wherein God was duly worshipped by our ancestors the Britons, before the church of St. Ives was erected or endowed; betwixt which island and the shore is an indifferent roadstead with some winds for ships to lie at anchor.

This town is particularly famous for the art of catching fish; in which trade or occupation of late they have been attended with good success, to the great advancement of their wealth and reputation. The chief inhabitants of which place were Mr. Hitchins, Mr. Trevilion, Mr. Beare, &c. In this port his Majesty hath his Custom House collector, surveyor, comptroller, and waiters, both for sea and land.

Trenwith, in this parish, is the seat of an old family of gentlemen, from thence denominated de Trenwith.

THE EDITOR.

St. Ives has grown, since the time of Mr. Carew, into a place of considerable importance, participating in the general prosperity of the whole country; and deriving great local advantages from the extension of its fisheries, from the construction of a pier, and from the extraordinary increase of trade at the adjacent port of Hayle.

Fish of almost every kind, frequenting the coast of Cornwall, are taken at St. Ives; but the fishery absorbing all the others in its magnitude is the taking of pilchards.

Pilchards are taken in two different ways quite distinct from each other.

The first, most ancient, most certain, and therefore of greatest importance to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, is called drifting.

Boats sail in the open sea, drawing after them a great number of nets appended to each other, provided with small leads and corks at the opposite sides, and extending in all to a very great length. The meshes of these nets are made of such a size as to admit the head of a pilchard to pass through them, but not the body; in consequence such fish as strike against the net are retained suspended by their gills, acting in the nature of a barb.

The second method is on a much more extensive scale, uncertain as to success; but occasionally giving fortunes to those concerned in carrying it on, by the gain of one prosperous year.

This method is founded entirely on the habit common to all the clupea genus of congregating in large shoals, and coming occasionally near the shore into shallow water, and into places where the ground is free from rocks; this latter circumstance is peculiarly favourable in the St. Ives Bay, and the ground is moreover covered to the depth of several feet by a fine sand, composed entirely of shells, reduced almost to a state of powder.

All the most favourable stations are occupied during the proper season of the year by large boats, having nets on board measuring four hundred and forty yards in length by twenty-seven yards in breadth, capable therefore of covering nearly two and an half statute acres. These nets are provided with very heavy weights at one of their sides, so as to sink them firmly on the ground, and with large corks to make them buoyant on the other. Two large boats and one smaller, as an attendant, are appropriated to each net; and when a shoal is discovered approaching, by a well-known change of colour and a ripple on the water, these boats, sometimes directed also by signals from the shore, move in opposite directions, extending the immense net to intercept the fish, and then to close it behind them. In this way a quantity sufficient to fill a thousand casks, after being pressed, have been frequently secured at one time, and on some occasions much more. The casks are hogsheads of fifty-four gallons, and contain about two thousand five hundred pilchards, so that the thousand hogsheads make two millions and a half secured by one net.

The fish are taken out of the sea by raising them to the surface of the water in smaller nets, used within the great net forming an artificial pond; and finally they are dipped up in baskets. The first net, called a seyne, frequently remaining in its original position for several days, or perhaps gently slided towards the shore.

Pilchards are preserved for exportation in the following manner: they are laid in regular heaps along the sides of walls sheltered by roofs to a height easily reached, and to a depth suited to the ordinary length of the arm, where they are almost concealed by the great quantity of salt strewed with them; three hundred and thirty-six pounds, or three great hundred weight of salt, being allowed for each pressed hogshead. In this state they remain thirty-six days, while oil continually oozing from them is received in pits; they are then rinced in water, and laid with great care in casks made purposely with open joints, where they receive a strong pressure through the medium of a long beam and weights; more oil is then collected, and the casks, closed up, are fitted for sale. Nine of these packages, independent of the wood, are said to weigh two tons; so that in their final state, the quantity of a thousand hogsheads, not unfrequently caught at one time, must weigh above two hundred and twenty tons.

The quantity of oil is very considerable, varying from two to five gallons from each hogshead, but of inferior quality. Pilchards thus cured are called fumados, which seems to imply their having been originally smoked like red herrings; their chief consumption takes place in Spain and Italy.

The pilchards used for home consumption are invariably picked; these are opened and washed, and then rubbed with salt, about seven pounds to the hundred, and preserved in jars or troughs.

The herring, pilchard, sprat, anchovy, and several other species, are arranged by icthyologists under the genus clupea; the herring and pilchard being adjacent to each other. The pilchard is rather less in size than the herring, has larger and firmer scales, and contains much more oil. There is one discriminating circumstance quite obvious; the pilchard, suspended by its dorsal fin, remains in equilibrio, while the herring, under similar circumstances, dips towards its head.

The pier was built under the authority of an Act of Parliament passed in the year 1767, after a personal survey and a report from the celebrated Mr. Smeaton, which is printed in his works. This shelter from every wind has equally tended to improve the fishery, to increase the general trade of the place, and to protect vessels bound for Hayle; but the fishery is indebted in a still greater degree to another Act of Parliament, carried through the legislature by the late Mr. Humphry Mackworth Praed, who had the honour first of representing this place, and then the county.

A caution had existed time of mind, by which any boat provided with a seyne net, having taken possession of one of the favourable stations or stems, might retain it till the net had been used to inclose a shoal, or, according to the technical expression, had been shot; and this right extended from one season to another: persons in possession of a stem were therefore unwilling to lose it, except for a considerable prize, and small shoals were generally allowed to escape. By Mr. Praed’s Act, so great and so beneficial a change was made, that, arranging the succession in an equitable manner, it allowed each boat to hold its stem but for twenty-four hours, and consequently every shoal, however small, was eagerly secured.

The nets are preserved for a long succession of years by steeping them in a decoction of oak bark as frequently as they are used; and, what would scarcely have been expected, the fish oil without this preservative, would destroy the twine in a very short time.

It seems that these nets must have been originally introduced from Dungarvon in Ireland, since they are still said to be braided according to the Dungarvon mesh, but no similar fishery is remembered at that place. Fish, however, of all kinds not only migrate through distant seas, but without any known cause, frequently leave one part of a coast and resort to another, returning after uncertain intervals to their former haunts.

There is one custom at St. Ives, of which the origin and specific meaning are entirely lost. So soon as shoals of pilchards are discovered in the bay, all the people, and more especially the children, run round the town shouting, HEVA! HEVA! with all their might.

St. Ives was distinguished in the last century by the birth and residence for some years of a very eminent scholar, the Rev. Jonathan Toup. His father, who died in 1721, was lecturer of that Town, as the church being a daughter church to Lelant, is entitled to service from the vicar only once in three weeks; his mother was the heiress of the family of Busvargus, long settled at Busvargus in St. Just.

He was born in 1713; and it is apprehended received the rudiments of classical learning from his father. He became a Commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, and having taken the usual degree of Bachelor of Arts, obtained Holy Orders in 1736. He was Curate of Philleigh in that year, and of Burian in 1738. He continued to pursue, with extraordinary diligence, the study of Greek. He became Rector of St. Martin’s, near Looe in 1750, through some private interest; but the Vicarage of St. Merran and a Prebend in the Cathedral of Exeter in 1774, were procured from the Bishop of Exeter by his literary friend Doctor William Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester.

Mr. Toup took his Master of Arts degree at Cambridge in 1756, when he had advanced towards the middle of life, and apparently as a qualification for his second living.

His chief work is, perhaps, “Emendationes in Suidam; in quibus plurima loca Veterum Græcorum, Sophoclis et Aristophanis in primis, tum explicuntur tum emaculantur.” These were printed in three parts, which came out in three volumes in the years 1760, 1764, and 1766; and were followed in 1775 by “Appendiculum Notarum in Suidam.” All these have since been reprinted at Leipsic in four volumes octavo; and the whole has been recently incorporated into a most splendid and learned edition of Kusterus’ Suidas, by the very Reverend Thomas Gaisford, D.D., Dean of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford.

Mr. Toup gave also to the world by far the best edition that has appeared of Longinus. He also assisted the celebrated Mr. Thomas Warton in his edition of Theocritus; and added, “Curæ posteriores, sive Appendicula Notarum atque Emendationum in Theocritum, Oxonii nuperrime publicatum.” He also published a letter to Bishop Warburton under the title of, “Epistola Critica ad Virum celeberrimum Gulielmum (Warburton) Episcopum Glocestriensem.”

Nothing in particular is remembered of Mr. Toup’s private life. He died unmarried at the Rectory of St. Martin’s in 1785; and the delegates of the Oxford press, in regard for so eminent a scholar, and in return for a present of MSS. made by his niece and executrix, have erected a monument to his memory in St. Martin’s Church.

Another gentleman, although not a native of the town, may be noticed here.

Mr. John Knill was born in the eastern part of Cornwall, and served his clerkship as an attorney in Penzance, from thence he removed to the office of a London attorney, where having distinguished himself by application and intelligence, he was recommended to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, who at that time held the political interest of St. Ives, to be his local agent.

After residing for some time at St. Ives, Mr. Knill was sent on a mission to the West Indies, highly honourable to his abilities and to his character, with an authority for inspecting all the custom-houses and their establishments; and, if sufficient cause should appear, with power to suspend any one, however high, from his office.

Having executed the functions thus delegated with integrity and moderation, he returned to the collectorship at St. Ives, and engaged in a very anomalous undertaking, at that time sanctioned and encouraged by the government, which consisted in equipping small vessels to act as priviateers against smugglers. In this species of warfare he is said to have been very successful; and on the breaking out of the Dutch war in the war with America, these vessels were ready to act their part in a practice most disgraceful to a civilized nation, and which every good, honourable, and humane man must hope will never again be repeated. In this way vessels laden with private property, wholly unprepared for resistance, utterly unacquainted with the nations being at war, were plundered and robbed of whatever they contained, and unoffending passengers were exposed to insult and violence.

Mr. Knill was hurried by the force of circumstances, contrary to his inclination and habits, and to his deep subsequent regret, into doing what others did, and participating in these unhallowed gains. The Editor understands, however, that he showed every kindness in his power to some objects of compassion who were made prisoners; and that he restored several articles of their more valued property at his own individual loss.

Soon after this time Mr. Knill took up the singular fancy of erecting a triangular pyramid on a hill overlooking St. Ives, with the intention of his being buried in a proper receptacle hollowed in the base; and he invested a sum of money in trust for the support of some half ludicrous and half serious dances and processions, to be repeated every fifth year.

He however, removed, to London, resided in Gray’s Inn, was called to the bar, and became a bencher; and having departed this life on the 29th of March 1811, was buried, by the direction of his last will, in St. Andrew’s church, Holborn. The monument is ornamental to the country: on one side of the pyramid are inscribed the words, “John Knill;” on a second, “I know that my Redeemer liveth;” and on the third the word “Resurgam.”

The monument stands on the Editor’s land, and pays him sixpence a-year, secured on a farm of some value, with a power of distress.

Mr. Knill was undoubtedly a man of considerable talent. When the Earl of Buckinghamshire took the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he selected Mr. Knill for his private secretary; but not liking the bustle, nor perhaps the responsibility of this situation, he returned to St. Ives. His philanthropy and general kindness were known to all; but a variety of idle fancies and singularities, unworthy of his talents and experience in the world, are remembered, while the estimable qualities of his heart are perhaps forgotten.

An extraordinary event took place at St. Ives on the 17th of Feb. 1780.

Some time in the month of December preceding, a large body of troops had been embarked at New York for the attack on Charlestown in South Carolina; and in a public dispatch from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, dated March the 9th, he says, “only one ship is missing, having on board a detachment of Hessians; and supposed to have borne away for the West Indies.” The Editor has ascertained by particular inquiries, that the vessel alluded to in this dispatch nearly reached Charlestown, the place of its destination, having about two hundred and fifty German soldiers on board with provision suited to so short a voyage, when being run foul of by a ship of war in a gale of wind, and injured in the masts and bowsprit, the vessel could sail no other way than before the westerly wind, then blowing with violence; most fortunately the direction of the wind continued steadily in the same direction, and the passengers arrived safe, but nearly famished, at St. Ives on the day above-mentioned. St. Ives and the neighbourhood contended with each other in efforts, not merely to relieve the distress of these unfortunate persons, but to make them comfortable and happy; the best attainable lodgings were provided for the private men, and the officers were daily invited to gentlemen’s houses. Their sufferings as foreigners on behalf of England, had excited general compassion, heightened by the reflection that they were not engaged in maintaining any cause in which their country had an interest, that they were not volunteers, but had been purchased by this nation from an individual entrusted with unlimited power, for the good of a portion of mankind, which he had most basely abused for the sake of private gain, in a manner that must commit his name and memory to infamy, and to the execration of mankind; nor can the administration be freed from blame that hired these human beings at so much a-day, and agreed to give the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel a certain sum for every one killed, or missing, or lamed.

Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin have enumerated several names of families at St. Ives. In recent times, that of Stephens has acquired an undisputed superiority.

That family, although merchants up to the decease of Mr. John Stephens in 1764, had been long in possession of landed property in St. Ives; and the Editor has seen the original of the following receipt given at the accession of King James the First.

XXII^o die Octobris, An^o Dom^i 1603.

Received of John Stephens of the Burrough of St. Ives in the
Hundred of Penwith, within the county of Cornwall, Gen^t,
for his composition with his Ma^{ies} Commissioners for his
not appearing at the Coronation of our said Souvraigne Lord
the King, for to receive the Order of Knighthood, according
to his Highness’ proclaymasion in that behalfe, the sum of
sixteen pounds.
I saye received XVI^{li}
FRA. GODOLPHIN, Coll.

Mr. John Stephens married Mary, one of the three daughters of Mr. Samuel Phillips, of Pendrea in Gulval.

This gentleman appears to have been very successful in his various concerns of merchandise and fisheries, as he added largely to his landed property by purchases in the immediate neighbourhood of St. Ives, and also in the parishes of Newlyn and St. Enoder. He acted for many years as agent to the Earl of Buckinghamshire in managing the political concerns of the town; but at last broke off the connection by getting his son, Mr. Samuel Stephens, returned on a vacancy.

Mr. John Stephens had a numerous family; his eldest son went to Holland, according to the practice of those times, with the view of continuing his father’s mercantile concerns; and the next son, Samuel, became a member of the University of Cambridge to prepare himself for the church, and probably with the expectation of obtaining Lelant and St. Ives, but the death of his elder brother caused this to be relinquished. He married Anne, daughter of Mr. Seaborn, of Bristol; and on his father’s decease about the year 1764, he disposed of every thing connected with the trade and fishery of this place, and having abandoned the sect of Presbyterians, to which all his family and relations had been strongly attached, he went so far as to pull down the meeting-house, and to withdraw his support from its minister; proceedings well remembered to his disadvantage on subsequent occasions.

About the year 1774, Mr. Stephens commenced building his new house at Tregonna; and in that and in a subsequent year proved unsuccessful at a poll, and on a petition, for the representation of St. Ives. He died in March 1794, leaving three sons, John Stephens, Rector of Ludgvan; Samuel, to whom he devised a large portion of his estate; and Augustus, all of whom have died in the present year (1834); also three daughters, Anne, Maria, and Harriet. Mr. Samuel Stephens, the second son, married Betty, sole daughter of Capt. Wallis, the discoverer of Otaheite, and coheiress of the families of Hearle and Paynter. He represented St. Ives in two Parliaments, and died February the 25th, 1834, leaving five sons, and one daughter, married to the Rev. Charles William Davy.

Previously to the Act of Parliament of 1832, St. Ives sent two Members to Parliament; and the right of voting rested in persons paying scot and lot throughout the parish. It now sends one member in conjunction with Lelant and Towednack. The present representative is Mr. James Halse, probably related to the historian: this gentleman is among the most enterprising and successful adventurers in mines of the present day.

The situation of the town would seem to be most salubrious, and perhaps it is so in ordinary times; but few places have suffered more from occasional epidemics.

The Editor remembers to have heard dreadful traditionary accounts of the plague in 1647. No market was kept in the town for a considerable space of time; but instead of it, supplies were brought to the edge of two streams of water at Polmanter and at Longstone Downs, where provisions were deposited with their prices affixed, which the inhabitants took away, leaving their money in the streams. It it said, however, that the Stephens family having retired to a farm called Aire, which they possessed just out of the town, and having there cut off all communication with others, entirely escaped, although 535 died in the course of one summer, out of a population which could not at that period have exceeded treble the amount. In the spring of 1786, a fever raged with great violence, to which the reverend Mr. Lane, then lecturer, and Mrs. Lane fell victims within a few days of each other.

The whole inscription on the cup given by Sir Francis Basset is as follows:

If any discord ’twixt my friends arise
Within the borough of beloved St. Ives,
It is desired this my cup of love,
To everie one a peace-maker may prove;
Then am I blest to have given a legacie,
So like my harte unto posteritie.
Francis Basset, A^o 1640.

The arms of the town are, Argent, an ivy bush overspreading the whole field Proper, evidently in allusion to the name; but this bearing has afforded an obvious joke throughout the neighbouring parishes at the expense of the Mayor.

The church is unusually large and handsome, with a fourth aile at the eastern end, and a lofty tower; and few prospects are equally beautiful with that of the town and bay from the hill near Tregenna.

The parish feast is celebrated at the same time as that of Lelant the mother church; and Lelant, Redruth, and Crowan, are said to honour St. Eury by holding their feasts on the nearest Sunday to her day, February 1st, but no trace of any such saint can be found.

The parish measures 1524 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 5,560 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 1,174 0 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 2714 | 3281 | 3526 | 4776
giving an increase of 76 per cent. in 30 years.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The north-eastern part of this parish is composed of compact and slaty felspar rocks, like those of St. Just in Penwith; the other part is situated on granite. Both these rocks are traversed by metalliferous veins, which have been for many ages the objects of mining speculations.

ST. JULYOT.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Lesnewith, and hath upon the north St. Gennis, west St. George’s Channel, south Lesnewith, east Otterham. As for the modern name, it is so called from its tutelar guardian and patron thereof, St. Julius, Pope of Rome and Confessor. In Domesday Tax, 20 William I. (1087), it was rated under the jurisdiction of Lesnewith or Otterham. In the taxation of benefices made by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester in Cornwall, 1294, ecclesia de Sancta Juliot, in decanatu de Major Trigshire (id est, before Stratton was dismembered from it) is rated xii_l._ Again, Capella de Sancta Julyot, xxvi_s._ viii_d._; but where this latter Church or Chapel now stands, I am wholly ignorant; for in Wolsey’s Inquisition, 1521, and Valor Beneficiorum, both are forgotten or omitted; the patronage is in Molesworth, and the parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 66_l._ 16_s._

TONKIN.

This parish is a donative, the patrons Sir John Molesworth and Mr. Rawle. The name is from St. Juliet, a virgin saint and martyr.

THE EDITOR.

Mr. Whitaker agrees in assigning to St. Juliet the honour of giving her name to this parish.

There seems to be some confusion in Mr. Hals’ narrative between the appropriations of the Rectory and of the Vicarage, which Mr. Whitaker endeavours to explain in the following note.

“Mr. Hals has confounded himself by the identity of names. The
Rectory of St. Julyot is placed by the first Valor in the Deanery
of Trig _Minor_, and the _Chapel_ of St. Julyot is placed by it;
and by the second in that of Trig _Major_. The former too is
rated so high as 12_l._, while the latter is only 26_s._ 8_d._
even at a period so much later. The former therefore is the only
large living of Trig Minor that is unnoticed in the first Valor,
Lanteglos, correspondently valued in the second at 34_l._ 11_s._
3_d._ And the latter is the present St. Julyot, not a Rectory,
but a mere Chapel in the first Valor, a mere Curacy Parochial in
the second, once appropriated to the Abbey of Tavistock, and
therefore having only 15_s._ certified value at present, the old
allocation settled upon it by the Abbey.”

Mr. Hals has given a very long history of Julius, Pope or Bishop of Rome, from the year 343 to 358, which is omitted.

Nor is there anything worth relating in the history or legend of St. Julyot. She is said to have suffered death, having been accused by a violent and wicked person who had previously taken from her by force some ample possessions. There is extant a sermon of St. Basil in praise of this saint, who is commemorated in the Rituale Romanum on the 30th of July.

The family of Rawle, settled for some time at Leskeard, are said to have originated from Hennot, in this parish. They, together with Molesworth of Pencarrow, are joint impropriators, and alternately nominate the perpetual curate.

St. Julyot measures 2276 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 1784 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 143 18 0
Population, {in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 199 | 208 | 263 | 271
giving an increase of 36 per cent., in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. John Russell, instituted in 1810.

GEOLOGY, BY DR. BOASE.

The rocks of this parish are nearly allied to dunstone, into which they pass at Tresparret Downs; some of them, however, more nearly resemble the dark-coloured pyritous rocks of Forrabury.

ST. JUST, IN ROSELAND.

HALS.

Is situate in the hundred of Powdre, and hath upon the north King’s Road and other parts of the Sea of Falmouth Harbour, east Phillery, south Gerans, west Anthony; the modern name of this parish and church is taken from the name of the saint to whom the same is dedicated, viz. St. Just; for in the Domesday Tax it was rated under the jurisdiction of Egles-ros, now Philley, or Tregarada, now Tregare in Gerance, both contiguous therewith. In the Inquisition of the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester into the value of Cornish Benefices, 1294, ecclesia de Sancto Justo, in decanatu de Powdre, was rated at iiii_l._ vi_s._ viii_d._ This church was partly endowed by the Dean and Chapter of Exon, who received an annuity out of the same of xxx_s._, as appears from that Inquisition; and partly by the Prior and Convent of St. Mary de Val, or Vale, contiguous therewith, and St. Mary de Plym, its superior, who received annually out of it xiii_s._ iv_d._ In Wolsey’s Inquisition it was valued at 37_l._ The patronage was formerly in the Prior of St. Mary de Val, now Antony (in right of their manor of St. Mary’s, now St. Maws), annexed since the dissolution of that Priory, 26 Henry VIII., to the manor of Tolverne, afterwards in Arundell of Tolverne, now Tredinham; the incumbent Bedford. The parish rated to the 4_s._ per pound Land Tax, 1696, 172_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._