Now one would think that these letters might be the initials of one or two of the three persons who bore these arms, doubtless the founders of the church. But here we meet with another difficulty, that of deciding whose were these arms. This point will come to be discussed presently; for our present purpose we may put it hypothetically that they were either the arms of Arwenick, Brea, De Petyt, De Bello Prato, or Vyvyan; but as the letters do not resemble any of the initials of these names, we must seek another explanation.

I would observe then that under the arms which occupy the eastern side of this arch was formerly an altar. It occurred to me that this might be the altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, which every Roman catholic church possesses, and that the two letters might be M for Maria and I for Jesu. To this solution of the difficulty that learned antiquary the Rev. George Oliver, of Exeter, does not object. Having consulted another gentleman, well known for deep research, Sir N. H. Nicholas, he kindly shewed them to Mr. Weigall, an eminent seal and gem engraver, of high authority on such subjects, who says, "There are no heraldic bearings like them. From what I see of them I should

66

"think they must be M I for Maria Jesu, as those letters

66

very frequently occur in old carvings without arms “above them, in which case I have always understood them to have this signification. The figure of the I "is so like the common representation of the letter "that there is no doubt about it. But the M, I must "confess, I have never seen represented with a stroke "across the centre, but in the modern old English alphabet; however, there was no doubt some precedent "for this mode of writing the letter. And we may

66

66

perhaps consider this as one of the specimens from "which the cross stroke in the modern alphabet was "derived." It may then be fairly concluded that the letters on this capital are M I for Maria Jesu, and the I M on the label of the window meant Jesu Maria.

In the appropriation of the arms shewn in the former page we have to encounter another difficulty.

The family of Arwenack flourished at the place bearing that name near Falmouth. Killigrew, of St. Erme, married the heiress of Arwenack in the time of Rich. II. when the former family became extinct, and the property passed to the Killigrews. The Arwenack Arms gules, three mascles, are quartered by Killigrew on the brass of his tomb-stone in St. Budock church. And also a lion rampant, differing certainly in some small degree from that in St. Just church; but still, when finding them together, and allowing for the difference of an artist's skill, and the slight change of arms which may have been adopted, it is not unreasonable to identify those in St. Just church with those of St. Budock. But here arises the difficulty, whose were these armorial bearings?

Dr. Borlase, in his MS. notes, inclines to the opinion that the lion rampant was the armorial bearing of Vyvyan, and he may have come to that conclusion from the circumstance, that from a remote period, certainly from the time of Rich. II., they had considerable possessions west of Penzance. Whether any branch of the family lived at Trewellard, in the parish of St. Just, is not known; but, from the fact of a high rent being still paid from that estate to the present baronet, it may be implied that the property formerly belonged to his ancestors, and that a branch of the family resided there, and contributed towards the building of the church. I cannot, however, discover that the Vyvyans were ever connected with the Arwenack family, and therefore doubt the accuracy of Dr. Borlase's conjecture, and think the lion rampant to be either the arms of Beaupré, or of De Petit of Ardevora, in Philley parish. The name was anciently written De Petyt. They long ranked amongst the most illustrious Cornish families, and are known to have flourished at Ardevora so early as the time of Henry I. Six had the honour of knighthood: Michael de Petyt of Ardevora served in Parliament for the county of Cornwall in the 10th Edw. I., A.D. 1301, as did also several of his descendants in succeeding reigns.

The Reverend George Oliver, in his Ecclesiastical Antiquities, quoting from Dugdale's "Monasticon," states, that "in Bishop Stapledon's Register is the "Commission of that Prelate, dated 24 Feb., 1316, to “William de la Were, to receive in his Lordship's name "from Sir Ralph de Albo Monasterio Knt., the Lord

30

66

ARMS.

"of the Island of Scilly, and from his officers and servants, the person of John de Were, Clerk who had "been committed to Prison by the Knight aforesaid on "a charge of felony. This delivery of the Prisoner was duly made on the Tuesday after the feast of SS. "Peter and Paul 1317, by Sir Michael Petit Kt." So it appears that the De Petits were people of consequence in the west of Cornwall, about the time to which I attribute the building of this church. They were also connected by marriage with the families of Grenville and Killigrew: the former possessed Kalinack in this parish; and Killigrew, as shewn above, married the heiress of Arwenack. Gilbert, of Devonport, vol. ii. p. 235, says, "The arms of Petet, argent, a lion rampant, gules, are still to be seen among the quarterings of Grenville, in the churches of Lanteglos and Talland, " and also with those of Killigrew, in the church of St. "Budock."

66

It is for this reason that the lion in St. Just church has been presumed to be the arms of De Petit. It will be difficult to shake the claim of this family, if Gilbert be correct in his statement of the quartering of the lion on the Killigrew tomb being the arms of De Petit, for which, however, he gives no authority, and was, perhaps, mistaken.

There is another family whose claims must be considered. The family of de Bello Prato, or Beauprè, had certainly, in their day, possessions in St. Just. In the year 1335, Sir J. Beauprè appropriated this living, of which he was patron, to the College of Glasney. The deed of appropriation is now with the muniments