1.If some of our most eminent Historical Painters were also employed to paint Altar Pieces, for the several new churches now erecting in London; it would be more beneficial to the Public, than the expenditure of so many thousands upon useless and meretricious ornaments: indeed some of the new buildings only tend to lessen the fame of the architects employed to erect them!

2.A Poem, descriptive of the beauty of the scenery on the banks of this river, has recently been written by Mr. T. N. Carrington, and published at Plymouth.

3.Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall.

4.Worgan’s Agricultural Survey.

5.“The glorie of Fowey,” says Leland, “rose by the warres in King Edwarde the Firste and Thirde, and Harrey the 5 day, partely by the feates of warre, partly by pyracie, and so waxing rich fell all to Merchandize; so that the Towne was haunted with shippes of divers Nations, and their shippes went to all Nations, it also appears by the roll of the huge fleet of Edward the Thirde before Calice, inserted in Hakaby’s Voyages that Fowey contributed 47 ships and 770 mariners, being a greater number than came from any other port in England, except Yarmouth.”—Carew in his time, speaking of the prosperous state of Fowey, says, “I may not pass in silence the commendable deserts of Master Rashleigh the elder, descended from a younger brother of an ancient house in Devon, for his industrious judgment and adventuring the Trade of Marchandize first opened a light and way to the townsmen now thriving, and left his sonne large Wealth and possessions, who together with daily bettering his estate, converteth the same to hospitality and other actions befitting a Gentleman well affected to his God, Prince and Country.”

6.Among the most remarkable specimens in this collection, are green carbonate of lead with quartz, blende in twenty sided crystals and green fleur in crystals; crystalized antimony, with red blende on quartz, yellow copper ore with opal, and arseniate of copper, in cubes of a bright green colour.—A very valuable work was published a few years ago, entitled, “Specimens of British Minerals,” from this collection, embellished with a number of fine plates, from drawings by Underwood and Bone.

7.Leland describes Restormel Castle as “sore defaced” in his time, “the fair large dungeon” says he, “yet stondith, a chapel cast out of it, a newer work than it, and now unrofid.”—Carew says “certes it may move compassion, that a palace so healthful for aire, so delightful for prospect, so necessary for commodities, so fayre for building, and so strong for defence, should in time of secure peace, and under the protection of his natural princes, be wronged with those spoylings, then which it could endure no greater at the hands of any forayne and deadly enemy, &c.”—Norden also says, “The whole Castle beginneth to mourne, and to wringe out hard stones for teares; that she that was imbraced, visited, and delighted with great princes, is now desolate, forsaken, and forlorne: the Cannon needs not batter, nor the pioneer to undermine, nor powder to blow up this so famous a pyle; for time and tirrannie hath wrought her desolation, her water pipes of lead gone, the planching rotten, the walls fallen downe, the fayre and large chimnye pieces, and all that would yield monie or serve for use, are converted to Men’s private purposes, and there remayneth a false show of honor, not contentinge anie compassionate eye to behold her lingrynge decayes. Men greyve to see the dying delayes of anie brute creature, so may we mourne to see so stately a pyle so long a fallinge, if it be of no use, the carcase would make some profit, therefore if it deserve, let her fall be no longer delayde, else will it drop peece meele downe, and her now profitable reliques will then serve to little or no use.”

8.The celebrated Tin Mine, called Polgooth, about two miles south-west of this town, has ceased working for many years, owing to some disputes among its proprietors. The profits arising from this mine is said by Borlase to have been £20,000, for many years.

9.The inhabitants boast of the Tower as the handsomest in the county; but an impartial observer will not surely prefer it to that of Probus, though some parts of the sculptural ornaments of the former, surpass considerably the latter.

10.Lyson’s Mag. Brit. Page 75.

11.In consequence of certain corrupt practices, a Bill has recently passed Parliament, disfranchising this borough, and allowing two additional members to be returned for the County of York.

12.Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall, page 249.

13.Truro being one of the privileged coinage towns, more tin is exported here than at any other port in the county: great quantities of copper are also exported from hence to Swansea and Neath in Wales. The blocks of tin lie in heaps about the streets, and are left entirely unguarded, as their great weight renders the difficulty to remove them so great, that it is never attempted.

14.Vide Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall.

15.Lysons’s Mag. Brit. page 121.

16.A very correct plan of this harbour is inserted in Gilbert’s History of Cornwall.

17.“Heylstoun, alias Hellas” says Leland, “standeth on a hill, a good Market towne, having a Mayor and privileges, wythin the which there is a Court for the Coinage of Tynne, kept twys in the Year. Yn the towne is both a Chapel and a paroch (Church) and vestegia castelli, and a ryver runnyng under the same vestegia of the Castel issueth towards The South Sea, stopped them yn the west part, with S. E. wyndes, casting up sandes maketh a poole, called Loo, of an arrow shot in breadth, and two myles yn compus yn the Somer. In the wynter, by reason of fluddes, men be constrayned to cut the sandy banke, between the Mouth of the Poole and the Sea, by the which gut the Sea floweth and ebbeth ynto the Poole.—Loo Poole is two mile in length, and betwixt it and the mayne Sea is but a barre of sand, and once in three or four year what by the wait of the fresh watier and rage of the Sea, it bubleth out, and then the fresh and Salt Water meeting maketh a Wonderful Noise. If this barre be always kept open it would be a good haven up to Hailston.”

18.See page 5.

19.Its matrix is an hard turpentine rock, in which it lies imbedded in veins or lobes, almost ductile when first dug out, but gradually indurating when exposed to the air, though always retaining its unctious feel. A considerable quantity has been used in the manufacture of china, but not for some time past.

20.In Lyson’s Mag. Brit. is a beautiful etching of Kynan’s Cove, by Miss Letitia Byrne.

21.The winters of 1809 and 1817, were particularly fatal to our shipping; and among others, the Anson Frigate was lost near Portleaven, when most of her brave crew were swallowed up by the ocean.—The Primrose Sloop of War, was lost near Gunwalloc Cove, and all on board perished, except a poor Irish boy.—On the same night, was lost off the Cove of Loverith, a transport, when only eight men escaped a watery grave!

22.One of which, an equestrian portrait of Charles I. on horseback, was presented to the family by Charles II., in consideration of the great attachment, sufferings, and heavy losses sustained in his support.

23.Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall.

24..sp 1

25.See page 23.

26.Carew states, that “during the Cornish Commotions, divers Gentlemen with their Wives and Families fled to the protection of this place, where the Rebels besieged them, fyrst wynning the playne at the hill’s foote by assault, when the water was out, and then the even ground on the top, by carrying up great trusses of Hay before them to blench the defender’s sight, and dead their shot, after which they could make but slender resistance, for no sooner should any one within peep his head over those unflanked walls, but he became an open mark to an whole shower of arrows. This disadvantage together with Woman’s dismay, and decrease of Victuals forced a Surrender to these Rakehells mercey, who nothing guilty of that effeminate Vertue, spoyl’d their goods, imprison’d their bodies, and were rather by God’s gracious providence, than any want of will, purpose or attempt, restained from murdering the principal persons.”—Lady Catherine Gordon, wife of the noted Perkin Warbeck, the impostor and pretender to the crown, was taken prisoner at St. Michael’s Mount, and when it surrendered in 1646, to the Parliamentary Forces under Colonel Hammond, after great resistance, a considerable quantity of ammunition and stores were taken.

27.Penzance is thus noticed by Leland.—“Penzantes about a mile from Mousehold, standing fast in the shore of Mount Bay, is the Westest Market Town of all Cornwall, Socur for botes or Shypes, but a forced pere or Key—Theyr is but a Chapel yn the sayd towne, as ys in Newlyn, For theyr paroche Chyrches be more than a mile off.”—Penzance is noticed in history as having been destroyed by fire in the year 1595, by a party of Spaniards, who landed at Mousehole, but were soon prevented from effecting further mischief, by the bravery of the Cornishmen.

28.Crosses are very prevalent in Cornwall. Almost every village contains one or more. They consist in general, of a shaft of granite, and a torved head, with the figure of a cross in relief. The most remarkable ones, are the cross in Mawgan church-yard, Lanhivitt, and Frier Hole Cross, on the side of the road leading from Bodmin to Launceston.

29.William Borlase, a learned English antiquary, was born at Pendeen, in the parish of St. Just, Cornwall, February 2, 1695–6. The family of that name, from which he was descended, had been settled at that place from whence they derived it (Borlase,) from the time of King William Rufus. Our author was the second son of John Borlase, Esq. of Pendeen, in the parish before mentioned, by Lydea, the youngest daughter of Christopher Harris, Esq. of Hayne, in the county of Devon, and was early put to school at Penzance, from which he was removed in 1709, to that of the Rev. Mr. Bedford, then a learned schoolmaster at Plymouth. Having completed his grammatical education, he was entered of Exeter College, Oxford, in March, 1712–3, where, on the first of June, 1719, he took the degree of Master of Arts. In the same year, Mr. Borlase was admitted to deacons’ orders, and ordained priest in 1720. On the 22nd of April, 1722, he was instituted by Dr. Watson, Bishop of Exeter, to the rectory of Ludgvan, in Cornwall, to which he had been presented by Charles, Duke of Bolton. On the 28th of July, 1724, he was married in the church of Illugan, by his elder brother, Dr. Borlase of Castlehorneck, to Anne, eldest surviving daughter and coheir of William Smith, M. A. rector of the parishes of Camborn and Illugan. In 1732, the Lord Chancellor King, by the recommendation of Sir William Morrice, Bart. presented Mr. Borlase to the vicarage of St. Just, his native parish, and where his father had a considerable property. This vicarage and the rectory of Ludgvan were the only preferments he ever received.

When Mr. Borlase was fixed at Ludgvan, which was a retired, but a delightful situation, he soon recommended himself as a pastor, a gentleman, and a man of learning. The duties of his profession he discharged with the most rigid punctuality and exemplary dignity. He was esteemed and respected by the principal gentry of Cornwall, and lived on the most friendly and social terms with those of his neighbourhood. In the pursuit of general knowledge he was active and vigorous: and his mind being of an inquisitive turn, he could not survey with inattention or indifference the peculiar objects which his situation pointed to his view. There were in the parish of Ludgvan rich copper works, belonging to the late Earl of Godolphin. These abounded with mineral and metallic fossils, which Mr. Borlase collected from time to time; and his collection increasing by degrees, he was encouraged to study at large the natural history of his native county. While he was engaged in this design, he could not avoid being struck with the numerous monuments of remote antiquity, that are to be met with in several parts of Cornwall, and which had hitherto been passed over with far less examination than they deserved. Enlarging, therefore, his plan, he determined to gain as accurate an acquaintance as possible with the Druid learning, and with the religion and customs of the ancient Britons, before their conversion to Christianity. To this undertaking he was encouraged by several gentlemen of his neighbourhood, who were men of literature and lovers of British antiquities; and particularly by Sir John St. Aubyn, ancestor of the present baronet of that family, and the late Rev. Edward Collins, vicar of St. Earth. In the year 1748, Mr. Borlase, happening to attend the ordination of his eldest son at Exeter, commenced an acquaintance with the Rev. Dr. Charles Lyttleton, late Bishop of Carlisle, then come to be installed into the deanery, and the Rev. Dr. Milles, the late dean, two eminent antiquaries in London. Our author’s correspondence with these gentlemen was a great encouragement to the prosecution of his studies; and he has acknowledged his obligations to them, in several parts of his works. In 1750, being at London, he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society, into which he had been chosen the year before, after having communicated an ingenious “Essay on the Cornish Crystals.” Mr. Borlase, having completed in 1753 his manuscript of the Antiquities of Cornwall, carried it to Oxford, where he finished the whole impression, in folio, in the February following. A second edition of it, in the same form, was published at London, in 1769. Our author’s next publication was, “Observations on the ancient and present state of the Islands of Scilly, and their importance to the trade of Great Britain, in a letter to the Rev. Charles Lyttleton, L. L. D. Dean of Exeter, and F.R.S.” This work, which was printed likewise at Oxford, and appeared in 1756, in quarto, was an extension of a paper that had been read before the Royal Society, on the 8th of February, 1753, entitled “An Account of the great Alterations, which the Islands of Scilly have undergone since the time of the ancients, who mention them, as to their number, extent, and position.” It was at the request of Dr. Lyttleton, that this account was enlarged into a distinct treatise. In 1757, Mr. Borlase again employed the Oxford Press, in printing his “Natural History of Cornwall,” for which he had been many years making collections, and which was published in April, 1758. After this, he sent a variety of fossils, and remains of antiquity, which he had described in his works in the Ashmolean Museum; and to the same repository he continued to send every thing curious which fell into his hands. For these benefactions he received the thanks of the University, in a letter from the Vice-chancellor, dated Nov. 18, 1758; and in March, 1766, that learned body conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws, by diploma, the highest academical order.

Though Dr. Borlase, when he had completed his three principal works, was become more than sixty years of age, he continued to exert his usual diligence and vigour in quiet attention to his pastoral duty, and the study of the scriptures. In the course of this study he drew up paraphrases on the books of Job, and the books of Solomon, and wrote some other pieces of a religious kind, rather, however, for his private improvement, than with a view to publication. His amusements abroad were to superintend the care of his Parish, and particularly the forming and reforming of its roads, which were more numerous than in any parish of Cornwall. His amusements at home were the belles lettres, and especially painting; and the correction and enlargement of his “Antiquities of Cornwall,” for a second edition, engaged some part of his time; and when this business was completed, he applied his attention to a minute revision of his “Natural History.” After this, he prepared for the press a treatise he had composed some years before, concerning the creation and deluge. But a violent illness, in January, 1771, and the apprehension of entangling himself in so long and close an attention as the correcting the sheets, solely, and at such a distance from London, would require, induced him to drop his design, and to recall the manuscript from his bookseller, when only a few pages of it had been printed. From the time of his illness, he began sensibly to decline; the infirmities of old age came fast upon him; and it was visible to all his friends that his dissolution was approaching. This expected event happened on the 31st of August, 1772, in the 77th year of his age, when he was lamented as a kind father, an affectionate brother, a sincere friend, an instructive pastor, and a man of erudition. He was buried within the communion rails in Ludgvan Church, by the side of Mrs. Borlase, who had been dead above three years.

The Doctor had by his lady six sons, two of whom alone survived him, the Rev. Mr. John Borlase, and the Rev. Mr. George Borlase, who was Casuistical Professor and Registrar of the University of Cambridge, and died in 1809. Besides Dr. Borlase’s literary connections with Dr. Lyttleton and Dr. Milles, before-mentioned, he corresponded with most of the literary men of his time. He had a particular intercourse of this kind with Mr. Pope; and there is still existing a large collection of letters, written by that celebrated poet to our author. He furnished Mr. Pope with the greatest part of the materials for forming his grotto at Twickenham, consisting of such curious fossils as the county of Cornwall abounds with; and there might have been seen, before the destruction of that curiosity, Dr. Borlase’s name in capitals, composed of crystals, in the grotto. On this occasion a very handsome letter was written to the Doctor by Mr. Pope, in which he says, “I am much obliged to you for your valuable collection of Cornish diamonds. I have placed them where they may best represent yourself, in a shade, but shining,” alluding to the obscurity of Dr. Borlase’s situation, and the brilliancy of his talents.—The papers which he communicated at different times to the Royal Society are numerous and curious.

30.Dr. Borlase’s MSS. quoted in Lysons’ Cornwall, p. 149.

31.Lyson’s Mag. Brit. p. 150.

32.Lyson’s Mag. Brit. 245.

33.Lyson’s Mag. Brit. p. 306.

34.Warner’s Tour.

35.Lyson’s Mag. Brit. for Cornwall, p. 296.

36.A very fine portrait of Sir B. Grenville, is to be found in Gilbert’s Cornwall.

37.Sir Richard Grenville, a celebrated military and naval commander in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He first distinguished himself in the wars under the Emperor Maximilian against the Turks, for which his name is recorded by several foreign writers. In the year 1591, being then Vice-Admiral of England, he was sent in the Revenge, with a squadron of seven ships, to intercept the Spanish galleons; when falling in with the enemy’s fleet, consisting of 52 sail, near the Tercera islands, be repulsed them 15 times in a continued fight, till his powder was all spent: his ship, which sunk before it could arrive in port, was reduced to a hulk, and himself covered with wounds, of which he died two days afterwards, on board the vessel of the Spanish commander.

38.A collection of verses, by the University of Oxford, on the death of Sir Beville Grenville, was printed in 1643, and reprinted in 1684. To these are annexed King Charles’s Letters to Sir Beville Grenville, and to the county of Cornwall; and a patent of Charles I. which grants to the county of Cornwall a trade to Denmark, to the great Duke of Muscovy, and to the Levant. Martin Llewellyn was a poet and physician, and was sometime principal of St. Mary Hall, in Oxford: in the latter part of his life he resided at High Wycomb; died there in 1682, and lies buried in the north aisle of the chancel.

39.Newport, which was antiently under the jurisdiction of the town of Launceston, is one of the notorious Boroughs of Cornwall, having returned members to Parliament since the reign of Edward VI. The number of voters, does not, in general, exceed 30 persons.

40.In the course of the proceedings on the election case in 1803, when the rights of the Corporation were confirmed, it appeared from records, that there was a Mayor in the reign of Richard II.

41.Beauties of Cornwall.

42.See Gorham’s History of St. Neot’s, pp. 29–37. London, 1820.

43.So determined in Gorham’s History of St. Neot’s, p. 231. Mr. Whitaker (Life of Neot, pp. 191–203) thinks the date is intended for 1530; and that the body of the Church was built in 1199,—a wild conjecture, in defiance of architectural evidence!

44.See Gorham’s History of St. Neot’s, pp. 233–245.

45.Archives of Linc. Cath., in a vol. entitled, “Memoranda Oliveri Sutton,” ff. 122 b., 123, a curious testimonial by Anselm, Abbot of Bec., of his examination of the relics of St. Neot, in 1078.

46.Whitaker’s Life of Neot, pp. 203–211.

47.Bodmin has been described by many writers, as a very unhealthy place; the contrary, however, is the fact: for during the last ten years, the number of funerals have only been 409, and baptisms 854.—The town suffered much in the years 1576 and 1581, from a pestilence. It is now remarkable for the health and longevity of the inhabitants.

48.Owing unfortunately to the bursting of the boilers of some of the engines at this mine, very lately, two men lost their lives; but most fortunately many others had previously quitted their work, or otherwise they would have experienced the same melancholy fate.

49.One of the vague terms sometimes given to the crust or coating of the ore, sometimes to an argillaceous substance, and sometimes to a quartz ore one. The miners have pretty generally determined, however, that caple must be black; and at Polgooth they mean a heavy kind of quartz, which is perfectly opake, and contains a large portion of argill.

50.Vide Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall, page 438.

51.The author of the Guide to Mount’s Bay, recently published.

52.“As some men were lately sinking an air hole to the bottom level of the Consolidated Mines, when at the depth of 160 fathoms from the surface, they struck into a cavern; the rush of foul air from which, compelled them to call out to their companion stationed above, to raise them by the tackle kept in readiness for that purpose. This vast subterranean vault is situated in one of the principal lodes of the mine; it is about nine feet high, and six feet wide; the western end from the place of entry, has been explored, and is found to be about 40 fathoms in length; the foul air in the eastern end, has hitherto prevented the miners from fully exploring it; the appearance of the sides and roof is very craggy, and shews that the cavity has been occasioned by a convulsion of nature.”

53.Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall, page 485.

54.Beauties of England and Wales for Cornwall, p. 487.

55.Vide Beauties for Cornwall, page 488.

56.The author of the Guide to Mounts Bay, &c. recently published.