TWO FONTS IN ONE 245 formed of two stones only, which appear, as here, to have been worked from one and then split in the centre. Above the arch is a small sundial which has this inscription upon it: "1720, Bright Sol and Luna Time and Tide doth hold. Chronodix Humbrale." The great feature of Towednack Church, however, is the chancel arch, which is of the thirteenth century, very pointed, and consists of two chamfered orders springing from corbels. It is composed of only five granite stones on the north and seven on the south side, the corbels being just five feet from the floor-level. The church consists of chancel, nave with western tower, south aisle, and the porch we have described. The tower is unusually low, of local granite, and looks massive. It has been built devoid of any attempt at ornamentation. The string-course and cornice are bold and simple, the battlemented parapet walled in on the east and west sides. The belfry windows are square-headed, so that altogether this tower is admirably harmonious in its dignified solidity and simplicity with the wild and dreary landscape around. The tower staircase is unusual: it springs direct from the north-west angle of the nave, in the church itself, with five steps, without any newels or winders. The four arches are supported by pillars of granite, each a single block from 3 to 4 inches high. The walls are plastered and yellowwashed, but the pillars and arches have been left bare and display the plain granite stones. The rafters are painted pale blue and white. The font is interesting. It stands 3 feet 1 inch high, and is 1 foot 9 inches across the bowl, on a square granite slab 6 inches high. The bowl is octagonal, and on the facets are carvings in relief. These are " I. R.," " W. B.," the other compartments exhibiting two quatrefoils, a conventional lily, and the date 1720, while one is blank. The pedestal of the font is round, with an expanded base, and where the column and the pedestal meet a tooth pattern, with the serrated edges pointing upwards, runs round. This is singular, and it looks very much as if an old Norman font had been inverted and the modern one of 1720 (same date as the sundial over the porch) had been placed there on the top of its base. The more modern portion is of the peculiar sparkling granite from Ludgvan, whereas the old Norman portion is of stone not found in the district of Towednack. Close beside the font has been placed a large slab of granite 6 feet 2 inches long by 2 inches thick, on which are incised four small crosses and a larger one in the centre. This interesting relic was found about seven years ago by the churchwarden, Mr. H. Dunstan, and very wisely put by him in the church for preservation. It was probably an altar-stone, and when funds permit it is intended to use it in the church for that purpose in place of the ordinary table. I noticed that, as in many of these churches in this district, there had been a north doorway, now blocked up. It was rudely constructed, the head segmental, cut out of one granite block. There was formerly a side chapel, the piscina being still in the wall. The tower hangs four bells. The tenor bell weighs 8 cwt., and has upon it: "Sancti Spiritus Assit nobis gracia" ("May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with us"). Another weighs 5 cwt., and is inscribed: "A.D. 1667 R.P." A third, weighing 64 cwt., is dated: "1774, W. Curnow, R. Baragwanath, Churchwardens." These were all recast with their original inscriptions in 1905, and a new bell added weighing 4 cwt. The church had doubtless many carved bench-ends, but two only now remain, and they are most peculiar. They have been worked into a chancel-seat, like the." Mermaid" bench-end of Zennor. On each is deeply carved in relief the profile portrait of a very Spanish-looking man in a felt hat with sweeping curves, mustachios and typical Spanish pointed beard, and has the lettering rudely cut, "Master Mathew Trenwith Warden," the W being strangely formed-XX. On the other side is 66 James Trewhela Warden." Each bears the date 1633. These two bench-ends were formerly on pews near the north door, which is now blocked up. The history of these bench-ends with Spanish Dons on them is unfortunately lost, but then it is not so surprising to find them as may at first seem. Early traffic with the 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 :— 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 dawr 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. T CHAPTER XXVI CORNISH HUMOUR OF THE LAND'S END DISTRICT HE 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." 66 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 |