The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-12-12
Cornwall and Cornishmen.
Correspondence New York Times.l

Cornwall is indeed land Of enchantment,
whether looked at historically, artistically, or
POLITICALLY. The moment you cross the lamar
you come at once into a new world-new at
least in ono sense, though older in another than
any spot in England Apart altogether from
the tradition which makes the Cornish coast
favorite resort Of certain keen Phpnician spec
uators 2500 years ago, bent on "having big
thing In tim" in the markets Of Tyre and Sid
on, the western principaIity has stack Of less
remote antiquities sufficient to SGT up an entire
continent. King Arthur, If he ever existed
anywhere but in the imagination OF Sir Thorn
as Mallory and Mr.. Tennyson, mnst have
planted his Round Table somewhere amid
these sloping green hills aud stern gray ROCKS,
and have fought his "last dim battle In the
West against the traitor Mordrcd upon the
now submerged plateau OF Lyonesse, which
then connected the Scilly Isles with the main
land The same region gave birth to another
contemporary hero much admired by Arthur,
with whom we are all even more familiar, viz,
Jack the Giant Killer, whose nationality was
so proudly blazoned upon the belt presented to
him by the mayor and corporation of Penzance
in gratitude for his removal of such fiagrant
Michael's mount
This is the valiant Cornishman
Who slew the giant CoImorsn"
So late as the Norman conquest, the whole
countr; was split into little Kingdoms of a few
miles apiece, ruled BY various brawny "Shep-
herds of the people," who were quite as igDo-
rant brutal, drunken and bloodthlrsty as 1t
was the correct thing for all such shepherds to
: be in those days. Then was the golden age for
such gentlemen as Alef Bristleheard, Iron-hook
the Unwashed. Grylls of Narration, and half
score other pocket-scnnackerifs. who amused
themseveves with robbing and numbering
each others subjects whenever chance Offered
agreeing only in strict disobedience to the So
called king of England" and business-like
alacrity in torturing to death any unfortunate
monk who had the impudence to come and Try
to teach them better. Even in the milder days
that followed Cornwall was still as distinct
from the rest of England as the French pro-
vince of Brittany, which II so strongly resem-
bled, was from the rest OF France. For centur-
les the countrymen of Abraham Cam and Pol
kinghorn retained their own language, and
there may still be living among the rocky hills
that look westward over the Atlantic few
white-haired grandfatbers whose memory gees
back to the day when the last Cornish sermon
was preached in the Parish church of Lande-
wedhach. The picturesque old heathen OBJ
servances and superstitions which the ancient
Britons preserved even after their nominal con-
version to Christianity fingered here longer
than in any other part OF the United Kingdom
except the Scottish Highlands. To this day
the miners Of Botallack and the farmers Of
Truro retain the hard, solid granite hewn cast
of features characteristic OF their medi@val an
cestors, and the short, square build so aptly de-
scribed by the Scot who defined a Cornishman
to be "a man as broad as he was narrow. And
many a gallant deed in every part OF the world
has shown that the modern Cornishman is not
whit less brave than those who charged up
hill against the outnumbering Cromwellians at
T.orb tf,Q N
at LostYithiel, and marched as far as Exeter
to snatch Bishop Trelawney from the clutches
of James H., singing the famous old war song
which is still household word with their de-
scen0entS:-
s'Ho Cornwall to the rescue!
Let every sword be drawn,
King james detains i1 savish chains
Trelawney of trelswne.
And have they fixed the where and when?
Ana shall Trelawney die?
Here's twenty thousand Cornishnen
viii kboS the reason whyV'
Preconceived notions are seldom just, and
Cornwall Is one Of the countess places which
are as much like the popular idea of them as a
wbeslbarrow is like an act of Parliament. Eve
ry one knows the received conception OF it-a
Wild bare rugged region, honey-combed by In
Vulnerable mine-shafts into the likeness OF a
monster rabbit warren, girt with tremendous
cl ifs, which, however far inland they might be
always contrived to be "scourged by the lashing
spray of the unrestiEg ocean," and peopled
with a race OF squat, grim. gobliD-like creatures
who speut their lives at fathomless distances
under ground only coming up once a year to
see what o'clock it was. Those who hold this
comfortable theory would be sorely surprised,
even if they could not be converted, by walk
through the country around Falmouth on nne
September or October afternoon. The trim lit
tie white town, nestled into its sheltering hol-
low amid clumps Of noble trees, with the seq on
one side and the long narrow inlet OF Its har-
Dor on the other, is a charming spectacle In IL
self. But even more splendid IS the picture
that meets you when you reach the summit OF
the nights above tho town, and take in at one
glance the whole sweep OF that glorious bay.
around the blue sunit waters OF which for
many a mile stretches an ever-varying pano-
rama of grassy uplands and trowning crags and
shadowy baskets of wooding, and smooth
green hills mapped out by dark hedgerows and
broad yellow sands and ridgy pebble beaches
glittering with seething foam and tiny white
hamlets, nesting uncer the Ice OF huge over
hanging cliffs and low brown reefs tasseled
with glossy seaweed. High over all upon lts
lonely hilltop towers the dark-gray mass OF
Pendennis castle, erect and defiant as in the
days when stout old Sir John Arundel, with
the SHOWS of 81 years upon his head, held it Tor
six months against all that the Cromwelians
could do, and when at length starved into
surrender, exulted in the thought that his an
cestral banner was "the last that had waived
for the king In broad England" Even then,
however, the picture is not complete till you
have marched out over hill and dale, between
high messy banks and tall hedges, bright with
every wild flower from the fairy-like honey
suckle to the deep rich glow Of the ragged rob.
bin,' to visit Pengerrick, the home of one OF
the best and most single hearted women In
Britain. There, having wandered through
shady hollows and fresh green lawns, trim
hcwer-beds, and rocky ferneres, around as
neat and quiet little country house as any
poet conld wish to write in, you will surely
turn back for one more look, through long
49, all 80 fhn int xUh
down shadowy valley, glimmers the broad
sheen OF the distant sea.