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PREFACE
PREFACE
Hawker’s prose sketches appeared originally as contributions to various periodicals, and in 1870 they were published for him in book form by Mr. John Russell Smith, as “Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall.” In 1893, eighteen years after his death, a new edition was issued by Messrs. Blackwood, entitled “The Prose Works of Rev. R. S. Hawker,” containing two essays previously unpublished, “Humphrey Vivian” and “Old Trevarten.” The late Mr. J. G. Godwin, who was Hawker’s friend and adviser in
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MORWENSTOW[1]
MORWENSTOW[1]
There cannot be a scene more graphic in itself, or more illustrative in its history of the gradual growth and striking development of the Church in Celtic and Western England, than the parish of St. Morwenna. It occupies the upper and northern nook of the county of Cornwall; shut in and bounded on the one hand by the Severn Sea, and on the other by the offspring of its own bosom, the Tamar River, which gushes, with its sister stream the Torridge, from a rushy knoll on the eastern wilds of Morwen
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THE FIRST CORNISH MOLE[32]
THE FIRST CORNISH MOLE[32]
A MORALITY FROM THE ROCKY LAND A lonely life for the dark and silent mole! Day is to her night. She glides along her narrow vaults, unconscious of the glad and glorious scenes of earth and air and sea. She was born, as it were, in a grave; and in one long, living sepulchre she dwells and dies. Is not existence to her a kind of doom? Wherefore is she thus a dark, sad exile from the blessed light of day? Hearken! Here, in our bleak old Cornwall, the first mole was once a lady of the land. Her abod
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THE GAUGER’S POCKET[35]
THE GAUGER’S POCKET[35]
Poor old Tristram Pentire! How he comes up before me as I pronounce his name! That light, active, half-stooping form, bent as though he had a brace of kegs upon his shoulders still; those thin, grey, rusty locks that fell upon a forehead seamed with the wrinkles of threescore years and five; the cunning glance that questioned in his eye, and that nose carried always at half-cock, with a red blaze along its ridge, scorched by the departing footstep of the fierce fiend Alcohol, when he fled before
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THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS[40]
THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS[40]
The life and adventures of the Cornish clergy during the eighteenth century would form a graphic volume of ecclesiastical lore. Afar off from the din of the noisy world, almost unconscious of the badge-words High Church and Low Church, they dwelt in their quaint grey vicarages by the churchyard wall, the saddened and unsympathising witnesses of those wild, fierce usages of the west which they were utterly powerless to control. The glebe whereon I write has been the scene of many an unavailing co
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BLACK JOHN[55]
BLACK JOHN[55]
“BLACK JOHN” From a picture formerly belonging to R. S. Hawker, now in the possession of Mrs. Calmady A picture hangs in my library—and it is one of my most treasured relics of old Cornwall—the full-length and “counterfeit presentment,” in oil, of a quaint and singular dwarf. It exhibits a squat figure, uncouth and original, just such a one as Frederick Taylor would delight to introduce in one of his out-of-door pieces of Elizabethan days, as an appendage to the rural lady’s state when she rode
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DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK[64]
DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK[64]
There is no part of our native country of England so little known, no region so seldom trodden by the feet of the tourist or the traveller, as the middle moorland of old Cornwall. A stretch of wild heath and stunted gorse, dotted with swelling hills, and interspersed with rugged rocks, either of native granite or rough-hewn pillar, the rude memorial of ancient art, spreads from the Severn Sea on the west to the tall ridge of Carradon on the east, and from Warbstow Barrow on the north to the sout
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ANTONY PAYNE, A CORNISH GIANT
ANTONY PAYNE, A CORNISH GIANT
On the brow of a lofty hill, crested with stag-horned trees, commanding a deep and woodland gorge wherein “the Crooks of Combe” [78] (the curves of a winding river) urge onward to the “Severn Sea,” still survive the remains of famous old Stowe,—that historic abode of the loyal and glorious Sir Beville, [79] the Bayard of old Cornwall, “ sans peur et sans reproche ,” in the thrilling Stuart wars. No mansion on the Tamar-side ever accumulated so rich and varied a store of association and event. Th
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CRUEL COPPINGER[90]
CRUEL COPPINGER[90]
A record of the wild, strange, lawless characters that roamed along the north coast of Cornwall during the middle and latter years of the last century would be a volume full of interest for the student of local history and semi-barbarous life. Therein would be found depicted the rough sea-captain, half smuggler, half pirate, who ran his lugger by beacon-light into some rugged cove among the massive headlands of the shore, and was relieved of his freight by the active and diligent “country-side.”
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THOMASINE BONAVENTURE[95]
THOMASINE BONAVENTURE[95]
The aspect of rural England during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries must have presented a strange and striking contrast, in the eye of a traveller, to the agricultural scenery of our own time. Thinly peopled—for the three millions of our chief city nowadays are in excess of the total population of the whole land of the Edwards and the Henrys—the inhabitants occupied hamlets few and far between, and a farm or grange signified usually a moated house amid a cluster of cultivated fields, gather
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THE BOTATHEN GHOST[102]
THE BOTATHEN GHOST[102]
There was something very painful and peculiar in the position of the clergy in the west of England throughout the seventeenth century. The Church of those days was in a transitory state, and her ministers, like her formularies, embodied a strange mixture of the old belief with the new interpretation. Their wide severance also from the great metropolis of life and manners, the city of London (which in those times was civilised England, much as the Paris of our own day is France), divested the Cor
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A RIDE FROM BUDE TO BOSS BY TWO OXFORD MEN
A RIDE FROM BUDE TO BOSS BY TWO OXFORD MEN
Dear old Oxford! [118] amid the brawl and uproar of the latter days, and with many a frailty in the curtains of the Ark which the weapons of the Philistines have found and pierced, yet alma mater , mother mild, like our native England, “with all thy faults I love thee still.” And when I recall my own undergraduate life of thirty years and upwards agone, I feel, notwithstanding modern vaunt, the laudator temporis acti earnest within me yet and strong. Nowadays, as it seems to me, there is but lit
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HOLACOMBE
HOLACOMBE
There is a small outlying hamlet [138] in my parochial charge, about two miles from my vicarage, with a population of about two hundred souls, inhabiting a kind of plateau shut in by lofty hills and skirted by the sea. These rural and simple-hearted people, secluded by their remote place of abode from the access of the surrounding world, present a striking picture of old and Celtic England such as it existed two or three hundred years ago. A notion of their solitude and simplicity may be gathere
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HUMPHREY VIVIAN
HUMPHREY VIVIAN
Among the changes that have passed over the face of our land with such torrent-like rapidity in this wondrous nineteenth century of marvel and miracle, none are more striking and complete than that which has transformed the torpid clergy of past periods into the active and energetic ministers of our own Church and time. The country incumbent of Macaulay’s “History,” the guests at the second table of the patron and the squire—the Trullibers and the Parson Adams of Fielding and Smollett—would find
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OLD TREVARTEN: A TALE OF THE PIXIES
OLD TREVARTEN: A TALE OF THE PIXIES
People may talk if they please about the march of agriculture, and they may boast that by the discoveries of science a man will soon be able to carry into a large field enough manure for its soil in his coat-pocket, but there has been the ready answer, “Yes, and bring away the produce in his fob.” I am half inclined to agree with an old parishioner of mine, who used often to say, “It was an unlucky time for England when the phrase ‘gentleman farmer’ came up, and folks began to try their new-fang
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APPENDIX A (p. 8) MORWENSTOW
APPENDIX A (p. 8) MORWENSTOW
By R. PEARSE CHOPE The “endowment” referred to by Mr. Hawker is a copy of the original document, which was executed on May 20th, 1296, by Bishop Thomas de Bytton. The church was appropriated by his predecessor, Bishop Peter Quivil, to the Hospital of St. John the Baptist at Bridgwater, on November 16th, 1290. Bishop Bytton’s Register having been lost, the “endowment” was copied by William Germyne, Registrar to John Woolton, Bishop from 1579 to 1593-94, on a blank page of the Register of Thomas d
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APPENDIX Aa (p. 9 and foll.) MORWENSTOW CHURCH
APPENDIX Aa (p. 9 and foll.) MORWENSTOW CHURCH
By the Late Rev. W. WADDON MARTYN One of the most beautiful of Mr. Hawker’s poems commences with the words “My Saxon shrine.” It becomes of interest, therefore, to examine as far as possible into the dates which attach to the different periods of architecture of the truly venerable church of Morwenstow. It is very likely that Mr. Hawker is correct when he speaks of the first church here dedicated to God’s service as being of Saxon times, but it is equally true that, with the exception of perhaps
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APPENDIX Ab (pp. 16, 20, 203) SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT NORTH AND EAST
APPENDIX Ab (pp. 16, 20, 203) SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT NORTH AND EAST
Hunt, in his “Popular Romances of the West of England,” quotes the following translation by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson from Hylten Cuvalliec’s “Wärend och Wirdurne,” pp. 287-88. It agrees with many of Hawker’s ideas. “Inasmuch as all light and all vigour springs from the sun, our Swedish forefathers always made their prayers with their faces turned towards that luminary. When any spell or charm in connection with an ‘earth-fast stone’ is practised, even in the present day, for the removal of sickne
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APPENDIX B (pp. 27 and 109)
APPENDIX B (pp. 27 and 109)
The following quaint verses have been found among some unpublished manuscripts in Hawker’s handwriting:— The “Crooks of Combe” is a name given to the windings of the stream that runs down Combe Valley to the sea (see p. 109 ). It seems possible that these verses may have been written to accompany the story of Alice of the Combe, and then discarded. On the other hand, the legend of the mole is associated with Tonacombe Manor, and Tonacombe and Combe are two different valleys. The poem may have be
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APPENDIX C (pp. 80 and 87) ARSCOTT OF TETCOTT
APPENDIX C (pp. 80 and 87) ARSCOTT OF TETCOTT
This was John Arscott, whose epitaph in the parish church of Tetcott ran as follows:— “Sacred to the memory of John Arscott late of Tetcott in the Parish, Esq re , who died the 14 th day of January 1788. What his character was need not here be recorded. The deep impression which his extensive benevolence and humanity has left in the minds of his friends and dependents will be transmitted by tradition to late Posterity.” A little paper-covered book, entitled “J. Arscott, Esq., of Tetcote, and his
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APPENDIX D (p. 90) DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK
APPENDIX D (p. 90) DANIEL GUMB’S ROCK
By R. PEARSE CHOPE A long account of Daniel Gumb is given in C. S. Gilbert’s “Historical Survey of Cornwall” (vol. i. p. 166). When Gilbert visited the spot in 1814, some remains of the habitation could still be traced, and on the entrance, graven on a rock, was inscribed “D. Gumb, 1735.” (See also Bond’s “Looe,” p. 203.) “Unfortunately they have now altogether disappeared before the march of the barbarians known as quarrymen.” The Cheesewring itself was claimed by Dr. Borlase as a Rock Idol, in
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APPENDIX Da (p. 92) DOZMERE POOL
APPENDIX Da (p. 92) DOZMERE POOL
The following is extracted from Hunt’s ‘Popular Romances of the West of England.’ “Mr. Bond, in his ‘Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of East and West Looe,’ writes— ‘This pool is distant from Looe about twelve miles off. Mr. Carew says— It is a lake of freshwater about a mile in circumference, the only one in Cornwall (unless the Loe Pool near Helston may be deemed such), and probably takes its name from Dome-Mer , sweet or fresh water sea. It is about eight or ten feet dee
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APPENDIX E (p. 109) ANTHONY PAYNE
APPENDIX E (p. 109) ANTHONY PAYNE
By The Rev. Prebendary ROGER GRANVILLE According to the Episcopal Registers of the diocese of Exeter, a marriage license was granted on September 12th, 1612, to “Anthony Payne of Stratton, and Gertrude Deane of the same.” These were evidently the parents of the famous Cornish giant, who served as henchman to Sir Bevill Grenvile at Stowe. When the Civil War broke out, Anthony Payne followed Sir Bevill to the battlefield, and was doubtless present with him at the engagements of Bradock Down, Modbu
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APPENDIX Ea (p. 109) STOWE AND THE GRANVILLES
APPENDIX Ea (p. 109) STOWE AND THE GRANVILLES
By The Rev. Prebendary ROGER GRANVILLE Hals states that Sir Thomas Grenvile ( temp. Henry VI.) was the first of the family who resided at Stowe, but Bishop Brantyngham licensed a chapel there for Sir John de Grenvile on August 30th, 1386, and Henry de Grenvile was buried at Kilkhampton about 1327, and the inquisition after his death was taken there, and I believe that Henry de Grenvile was the first to reside regularly at Stowe. His father, Bartholomew, constantly signed deeds at Bideford, and B
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APPENDIX F (p. 123) CRUEL COPPINGER
APPENDIX F (p. 123) CRUEL COPPINGER
By R. PEARSE CHOPE The real Coppinger, around whose name Mr. Hawker has woven such a fascinating legend, has been identified by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in a footnote to his account of “The Vicar of Morwenstow” (edit. 1899, p. 113), with an Irishman of that name, having a wife at Trewhiddle, near St. Austell, by whom he had a daughter, who married a son of Lord Clinton. However, there can be little doubt that the Coppinger Mr. Hawker had in his mind lived nearer at hand, in the adjoining parish
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APPENDIX G (p. 139) THOMASINE BONAVENTURE
APPENDIX G (p. 139) THOMASINE BONAVENTURE
By R. PEARSE CHOPE The tale of the shepherdess who became Lady Mayoress was told by Carew in his “Survey of Cornwall,” and her biography has since been sketched by many different authors, such as Lysons in “Magna Britannia,” W. H. Tregellas in “Cornish Worthies,” and in the “Dictionary of National Biography,” and G. C. Boase in “Collectanea Cornubiensia.” An account appears also in the “Parochial History of Cornwall;” and a book by E. Nicolls, entitled “Thomazine Bonaventure; or, the Maid of Wee
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APPENDIX H (pp. 161-62) EPITAPHS OF RUDDLE AND BLIGH
APPENDIX H (pp. 161-62) EPITAPHS OF RUDDLE AND BLIGH
The following is extracted from a little book entitled “Some Account of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Launceston,” by S. R. Pattison, 1852:— “Adjoining is a marble monument, in memory of Sarah, the wife of the Rev. John Ruddle, interred near this place, in 1667. Below the family arms is the following epitaph, entitled “The Husband’s Valediction:”— A stately monument of fine variegated marble, in the south aisle, is charged with the arms of Bligh, and the following Latin inscription:— “Juxta
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APPENDIX J (p. 185) MICHAEL SCOTT AND EILDON HILL
APPENDIX J (p. 185) MICHAEL SCOTT AND EILDON HILL
Michael Scott, the Wizard of the North, was a mediæval scientist around whose memory many traditions have gathered. Compare “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” canto 2, stanza 13. The Monk speaks. In the note on this passage Sir Walter says— “In the South of Scotland any work of great labour or antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil.” Gilfillan tells an amusing anecdote that— “when Sir Walter was in Italy he happened to remark to Mr. Chene
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