SPANISH PHYSIOGNOMIES 247 Phoenicians must always have involved intercourse between this end of Cornwall and Spain; the very maritime position of Penwith and its good harbours led, no doubt, to the introduction of much foreign blood. This intercourse between Spain and the west of Cornwall may have led to small migrations of Spaniards to the county. At any rate, it has always struck me that many faces about Newlyn, Mousehole, and Sennen are very Spanish in appearance. Some of the old Cornish words also are very Spanish, such as cariad, carided, charity or benevolence; egloz or eglez, a church. In the Elizabethan days particularly Cornwall and Spain had many relations, friendly as well as hostile. So that altogether these Spanish bench-ends of Towednack are simply additional proof of what has been long thought by most persons acquainted with both Cornwall and Spain-that there was a considerable connection between the two places. From an iron chest kept in the chancel, dated 1828, and inscribed "Messrs. Andrews Stevens and Wm. Rosewall, Churchwardens," Mr. H. Dunstan produced for my inspection a silver chalice of 1576 which he said had once a cover, so it was reported, but which has now disappeared. On a tombstone, east of the church, to "Elizabeth, wife of John Green, Clerk of this Parish, died 1843, aged 33," is this verse : "Weep not, my child and husband dear, I am not dead but sleeping here; On the north side of the church is a tombstone to Lydia "The Village Maidens to her grave shall bring Who underneath the hollow turf is laid. Like her they flourish beauteous to ye eye, Such an old and interesting church as that of Towednack has naturally legends attached to it. When the masons were building the tower the devil came every night and carried off the pinnacles and battlements. Again and again this work was renewed during the day, and as often was it removed during the night, until at length the builders gave up the work in despair. It is said in consequence there are no cuckolds in Towednack because there are no pinnacles or horns on the church tower. At any rate, there stands Towednack Church, lonely, in a wild country, with its square, odd-looking tower. Probably associated with this is the true origin of the Cuckoo Feast. The Towednack feastentide, or parish festival, occurs on the nearest Sunday to April 28th. Once, it is said, Towednack had no feastentide. It is said that a certain inhabitant one springtime invited some friends to a merry-making at his house-evidently a great event in those days, or it would not be recorded. A large log of wood was placed on the open hearth, when no sooner did it begin to crackle and blaze than a cuckoo flew out from a hole in the log. The host caught the strange bird and kept it, and he and his guests resolved to renew their festive gathering every year in future. From this sprang the parochial festival under its odd name of the Cuckoo Feast. It is also called the Crowder's Feast, or Fiddler's Feast, because the fiddler formed a procession at the church door and led the people through the village to some lively tune. In the Tonkin MSS (f. 36) in the British Museum I came across this origin of the name Towednack: "I take the name of this parish to signify no other than St. Wynnock; for Ta and Da are synonymous terms for Good. It is a daŵr church a Chappel of ease to Lelant and goes in the same persentation." These Tonkin MSS, and also the Gwavas, in the British Museum, are well worth the careful study of those interested in the county and in the ancient Cornish language, now quite dead. CHAPTER XXVI CORNISH HUMOUR OF THE LAND'S END DISTRICT THE Celtic blood in the Cornish people makes them not only ardent and vivacious, but also possessed of a keen sense of humour. And there is a good deal of humour to be found in the Land's End district. A simple question may often bring forth an unexpected answer, or even more frequently, another question, showing quickness of wit and repartee. The old and crusted riddle propounded by an artistvisitor in the old-fashioned sanded parlour of the Success Inn at Sennen Cove, "If a herring and a half cost threehalfpennies, what will twelve cost?" was received with stern, rather ominous silence by the fishermen seated on the ancient settles around. Cornish people are not fond of riddles, and rather resent being asked them. I fancy few people like being asked riddles unless the answers are at once vouchsafed. The artist, simple stranger, thinking it had not been properly understood, repeated the conundrum and then deliberately announced the answer. "Why, of course," said a Pender, "what fules us be, to be sure! Us was thinkin' yew was tellin' about pilchers all the while." Cornish bulls, like Irish bulls, are not unknown in this far part of England. The Cornish paper which reported an accident on the railway, "A man was run down by the passenger train and killed; he was injured in a similar way a year ago," perpetrated one of the best bulls we know. If Coleridge's definition of what constitutes a bull is correct -"A bull consists in a mental juxtaposition of incongruous ideas with the sensation but without the sense of connection " -then a bull which seems to be an excellent example of this came from the report of a Benevolent Society in the Land's End district: "Notwithstanding the large amount paid for medicine and medical attendance, very few deaths occurred during this year." I think it was a Cornishman who, when defending the race of bishops in the House of Commons, said, "Bishops are not really so stiff and starchy as some people make them out to be. There is a good heart beating below their gaiters." During a contested election a candidate in addressing a meeting of his supporters remarked, "If you give these people" (electors on the other side of politics) "rope enough they will certainly hang themselves, and after they have done that it will be our turn." Which reminds me of what I once heard at Bristol Assizes. The late Mr. Justice Denman, when sentencing three small boys to a small punishment for stealing cigarettes out of a shop, concluded with, "And now I hope you will be good boys for the rest of your life and good men after." I fancy few in court noticed the joke, so naturally did it come out, but I happened to write it down at the time. The Cornish editor's correspondent was delightful when he wrote: "Will you please to insert this obituary notice? I make bold to ask it, because I know the deceased had a great many friends who would be glad to hear of his death." A Cornish M.P., and a Cornishman, in a speech on Mr. Asquith's amendment to the Address on the fiscal question, delighted the House when he said, "The Government have no right to throw the fiscal question into the meltingpot, to see who will catch hold of the handle of the ship of State." This was equalled by a Cornish policeman in the police court, who stated to the presiding magistrate, “He was drunk, your honour, and couldn't stand. I told him to go away, and as he wouldn't, I locked him up." The laugh in another Cornish eourt was certainly against the examining solicitor, who, thinking to browbeat the witness, severely asked, "Were you present when you heard this?" These are perhaps more examples of mixed metaphors than bulls. A good sample of the former, at any rate, is that of the eloquent town councillor who, getting entangled in the course of a protracted debate, indignantly declared, "It is time we put our foot down with a loud voice." CORNISH JOKES 251 A witness being asked what he was doing at a certain time at a certain place, puzzled both Judge and Bar by telling the Court very naively he was "eating fair maids and drinking mahogany." Fair maids are cured pilchards (fumadoes) and mahogany is a mixture of treacle and gin. No wonder the Court was puzzled! The Cornishman likes telling stories and with fitting gravity brings out the subtile points, as in this : Zac: "Do 'ee b'l'eve et'll bring good luck you, ef you do kip a rabbut's foot en your pocket?" Jock: "Naw, I doan't. I carr'd wan 'bout with me I did th' day I prepoased to my awld wamman." A clergyman told me an occurrence in his parish which is illustrative of the sprightliness of the Cornish woman. He prepared for confirmation a grandmother, and she was confirmed by Bishop Temple. Mentioning to the Bishop after the ceremony that he had had the unusual experience of confirming a grandmother, the prelate expressed much surprise, as he thought all the fair sex who had passed beneath his hands had been girls, and he had called each "child," not "servant," as is provided in the Prayer Book for such cases. The truth was, my informant told me, this ancient dame had deliberately clothed herself in a white veil and dressed up just like the other girls, saying to the clergyman who prepared her for confirmation, "Why should she be different from the others?" Her figure being lithesome and youthful in appearance had aided her innocently intended deception-though perhaps that is too strong a word to use to express her youthful mental attitude. A local veterinary, not a qualified surgeon of course, on being asked why he did not send his son, who was following his father's business, up to the Veterinary College to learn his profession properly, answered with a sly wink, “Why, they'd zuck out o' he all he do knaw." The proverbs of Cornwall are condensed extracts of common sense put up very neatly. Some of them are full of humour and pleasant conceit. None of them are boorish or brainless. "Who won't be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock" is a smart allusion drawn from the rocky nature of the Cornish coast. |