ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STONES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF CORNWALL.

ought to be attributed, it is hard to say. among the Britons, and signifies royal;

Rouan, or Rouanes, is a name of dignity and it was probably derived from the name

by which they distinguished the Romans who resided among them.

Amidst these uncertain but numerous claimants, it is impossible to fix the date of this monument with precision. The letter R being formed in the Saxon manner, necessarily reduces it to a lower period than its general appearance seems to indicate. It has therefore been thought by Dr. Borlase to be about 850 years old, or perhaps something more.

X.-Another stone, which has an equal claim to be reckoned among the antiques of this county, lay, in the days of Dr. Borlase, a little without the churchyard at Camborne, and probably it still continues there. This is a flat stone of an oblong square, three feet five inches long, by two feet nine inches wide. Near the margin of the stone there is a running wreath carried on with much regularity, by which the inscription is enclosed. The inscription is engraven in a similar manner. It is within the wreath, but is continued on each superficial square of the stone; and because the room was not sufficient to receive the whole in one quadrature, a few letters are introduced under the first line, to give completion to the inscription. Near the longitudinal centre of this stone, but inclining towards one end, there is It is however, very heavy in its appearance, the transverse stroke crossing the shaft nearly at right angles.

a cross.

From the face of this monument it seems plain, that it was never designed to be placed in an erect position, since no part of it could be inserted in the ground, without partially burying the inscription. It must therefore have been intended as a covering for some other parts, so that the whole might finally resemble the altar tombs of modern days. The inscription on this stone runs as follows:

LEVIUT JUSIT HEC ALTARE PRO ANIMA SUA.

This inscription, like that in St. Cleer, requires prayers to be said for the soul of that man whose name it bears. It was probably for the accommodation of those who were required to pray, that this stone was placed in an horizontal position. And though thrown aside at present, through the revolutions which have taken place in the religious world, it is not unlikely, that it once covered an altar in some oratory or chantry now demolished, not far from the spot where it at present lies; on which such prayers were offered for the soul of the departed, as the inscription requires, and as were sanctioned by the prevailing profession of these superstitious days.

It is only from the appearance of the letters, and the manner in which this inscription is written, that any idea of its age can be gathered; and these unite to

ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STONES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF CORNWALL.

bring it down very near to the Norman conquest. The character is so mixed with Saxon, the Latin is so barbarous, the writing so bad, and the letter R so exactly similar to that which the monument in St. Blazey exhibits, that Dr. Borlase is decidedly of opinion, that this stone must be nearly of the same age; about 850 years old.

From the name itself, Leviut, nothing can be inferred, that will serve to inform us whose soul it is that required an interest in the prayers of the passengers. The name is Cornish; and in that language signifies pilot, or sailor. But in giving to it an individual application, we have no guide from history, since it is not to be found, either in the calendar of saints, in the list of heroes, or in the dynasty of kings.

XI. Mr. Lysons informs us, that among all the ancient inscriptions on upright stones in Cornwall, that which has been best preserved, appears on a stone in the parish of St. Columb Minor, where it supports a shed in a back court at Rialton House. It was discovered accidentally, and as the author has justly observed, it seems never to have been noticed by any writer before. It is very probable, that several such stones still remain in a state of concealment in different parts of the county. This stone is five feet high, and twenty inches wide. The inscription on it consists only of two words, and even these are contracted.

HONEMIMOR- TRIBVN.

(Honemimorus Tribunus) stand inserted on its face, in a perpendicular line. But from the form of the characters in which the inscription is written, Mr. Lysons concludes, that this may be considered as one of the most ancient monuments of this kind in the county.

These are the only solitary stones with inscriptions on them, the date of which is evidently prior to the Norman conquest, that have hitherto been discovered in Cornwall. Some few may be found that approximate towards that period, but none can be said with certainty to reach it, unless they are such stones as are enclosed in some of our churches.

In the church at Berian, or Buryan, there is an ancient sepulchral monument, which has excited the notice of the curious; and though not falling immediately under the character of those stones that have been described, may not improperly be introduced in this place, since its age carries our views evidently back near to this period. It is a large flat marble of an oblong square, having a decorated cross extending from one extremity to the other, with its transverse stroke towards the widest end of the stone. Parallel with its margin, there are two lines which surround the cross, and between these lines is a long inscription, written in an

ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STONES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF CORNWALL.

antiquated character. Of this monument Mr. Hals gives the following history: "About twenty years ago, (i. e. about 1665) the sexton of this parish sinking a grave four feet in the ground, met with a large flat marble or other stone, which he lifted up out of the earth; and thereon was cut or engraved, a long plain cross, surmounted on four grieces or steps. On the border of which stone was an inscription in an ancient character, and difficult to be read; which the curious have found to be in Norman French, running in English thus :-Jane, the wife of Geffery de Bolait, lies here. Whosoever shall pray for her soul shall have five days pardon. M. LX: IX."

Morden says, that the numerals at the end of the inscription are not correctly stated; since not only the year, but even the month and the day of the month, are both inserted. He says, “At the bottom are these figures, which may be supposed to mean March 16, 1101."

He says,

Brice, who printed the work of Hals, says that a learned gentleman observed to him, that this tomb was set up soon after the Conquest, when they used not to put the date; and that in English the inscription runs thus:-The wife of Henry de Bollen lies here. God of her soul have mercy. They that pray for her soul shall have

days pardon."

Another version of this singular inscription has been given by Mr. Lhuyd, who copied it on the spot. He notices, that prior to his days, it had been erroneously inserted in Camden. To this we may add, that in the new editions of that work, it has been amended according to Mr. Lhuyd's corrections; and most succeeding writers have adopted his interpretation, which is as follows:-Clarice, the wife of Geffrey de Bolleit lies here: God on her soul have mercy: And whoever shall pray for her soul, shall have ten days pardon.”

There is still in the parish of Buryan, a place which bears the name of Bolleit, or Bollait; and there can be little doubt, that the person interred, had when living, her residence near this spot; and perhaps the family communicated the name which it still retains. Among the families which came in at the time of the Norman conquest, we find the name of Bellot or Bellet. But to this family it is doubtful if the monument belongs. At present there is no vestige either in history or tradition that can enable us to trace such a relation. The same remarks, with a little variation, may be made on all those sepulchres we have surveyed.

"O'er them and o'er their deeds the billows close."

Of their actions and exploits of renown, very little or nothing is known with certainty. No more than eleven or twelve names have been preserved in what may be termed a tangible manner, out of all the myriads who have inhabited 3 Y

VOL. I.

ANCIENT MONUMENTAL STONES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF CORNWALL.

Cornwall, from the days which approximate to the Deluge, down to the Norman conquest; and what we behold of these, is

"Like the flag floating when the bark's ingulphed."

Even of prince Arthur, whose name the trumpet of fame proclaimed with its loudest blast, the genuine history is so obscured by fable, that we hesitate to believe what is true, lest we should receive fictions for realities, and embrace those absurdities which we endeavour to detect. To be neglected and forgotten, is stamped upon all the appendages of mortality; and the ambition which heroism, renown, and mundane glory, is calculated to inspire, may learn a useful lesson at the solitary monuments and shrines of dust and ashes, which seem to say—

"One Cesar lives, a thousand are forgot!"

To a contemplative mind, there is something mournfully pleasing in the review of departed years. The ages that have been lost in the ocean of eternity, seem once more to revisit the stream of time, and to bring back the vicissitudes and great events which have marked the revolutions of the world. The shadows of our unknown progenitors, of distinguished personages, of tyrants and slaves, glide before us in awful silence and majestic pomp; and by the solemnity of their speechless admonitions, they teach us wisdom, without exposing us to the danger of learning it from experiment. Even the monuments themselves, that have been charged with the names of those whose ashes they were appointed to guard, are sinking beneath the accumulation of centuries, and falling victims to the same powerful agent that has reduced the tenant of the sepulchre to common dust. Corroded by the action of the elements, and rendered obsolete by the revolutions of characters, alphabets, and languages, the letters appear too indistinctly to be sufficiently legible for the purposes of accurate description. In the regions of time every thing is in a state of fluctuation. The earth trembles beneath the feet of its inhabitants; and nothing is permanent but that which is lodged in eternity.

CHAP. X.

Effects of the Norman Conquest in Cornwall.

SECTION 1.

England conquered by William the Norman.-Inhabitants of Exeter refuse to submit to his authority.— Condorus, last Earl of Cornwall, deposed, and succeeded by Robert Earl of Moreton, in dignity, wealth, and power.-Cornish Families before the Conquest, and Families that came in with the Conqueror.

IT was the unhappy lot of England, about this period of its history, to present a theatre to foreign kings, in which they contended for empire; to fall a prey successively to the reigning faction; and, under every change that took place, to drink the blood of its own inhabitants. Against the dominion of their Saxon invaders, the primitive Britons had perseveringly struggled during 500 years; but they were finally compelled to submit. The Danes had pretended to assist them ; but they had raised themselves to the throne by the exercise of those arts with which most conquerors are but too well acquainted. The tempest however, which lifted them to the pinnacle, was too violent to permit them to preserve their stations. They were successively hurled from the point of elevation, to make way for a more fortunate rival, and to feel in their turns the pangs of disappointed ambition. Within the short space of fifty years, the crown was possessed by a Saxon, a Dane, another Saxon, and (as Harold could lay no claim to royal blood, either through the Saxons or the Danes) by the private family of Godwin, and finally by a new conqueror from Normandy. "Thus was the throne in one generation filled by five families, each distinct from the preceding one, and each king, if we except Harold, of a different nation from his predecessor."

The battle of Hastings, in which more than 30,000 men were slain, terminated in favour of William duke of Normandy, and seated him on the throne of England, from which both Saxons and Danes were now hurled, and excluded for ever. This memorable event took place on the 14th of October, 1066.

Prior to this time, Cornwall, the independence of which had been shaken by Egbert, wounded by Alfred, and destroyed by Athelstan, had been consigned over to the destiny that awaited England; and, as a part of the island, this county