PREFACE.

IT is perhaps some what questionable, if there be any department in literature in which a writer has less to hope; or more to fear, than in that of local history. As every man is an historian in his own parish, town, or village, the peasant is frequently much better acquainted with facts which exist in his own neighbourhood, than the man who has prosecuted his inquiries with diligence, devoted his time to profound researches, and who finally sits down to arrange his thoughts in philosophical retirement.

There is, however, unhappily in the human mind, a stronger propensity to detect faults, than to relish excellencies; and the former are frequently recollected with pleasure, when all traces of the latter are obliterated from the memory. An error, thus discovered, is but rarely suffered to perish from the want of propagation; and a tale, which begins in an audible whisper, having awakened attention, furnishes sagacity with employment and continues to circulate, until suspicion takes the place of confidence, and the writer receives his condemnation from persons who are totally incompetent to form any judgment of the facts which he has stated. To escape censure, is therefore a privilege which no writer of provincial history has any just reason to expect.

When the History of Cornwall, which is now brought to a conclusion, was first contemplated, a prospectus of its design, was sent into the world by Fortescue Hitchins, Esq. of St. Ives, who undertook to supply the materials, and to conduct the work through the press.

As a friend of the Muses, whose favours he had frequently courted, and sometimes obtained, Mr. Hitchins was well known in his native county; and the celebrity which he had acquired as a poet, and the writer of some sprightly notes, procured for his projected history the confidence of many respectable subscribers, who expected to find in its pages' new combinations of past events, connected with the information he might be able to derive from actual observation, from local testimony, and from his own resources. Scarcely, however, had Mr. Hitchins begun to make his collections and arrangements, before he was arrested by the hand of death. No part of the history was at this time printed; but such of his papers as contained his compilation were put into the hands of the printer, Mr. William Penaluna of Helston, with whom they remained several months, until an agreement was made between him and the writer of this preface, to give completion to the work thus begun by Mr. Hitchins. Such were the circumstances under which it was announced to the public, as a "History of Cornwall compiled by Fortescue Hitchins, Esq. and edited by Mr. Samuel Drew.”

To what extent it was the intention of Mr. Hitchins to carry this work, the present editor has no means of knowing, as no plan had been made, either for the extent of the work, or the arrangement of the materials. He therefore found himself, on succeeding to the arduous task, possessed of two sheets and a half of paper, from which nothing has been taken; the name of Mr. Hitchins as a compiler; and those resources which were yet unexplored.

Although the western parts of Cornwall, and some of its towns, in connexion with the Scilly Islands, have been known from the remote periods of antiquity, nothing but incidental remarks, and detached observations on its castles, kings, and the history of those ages had been preserved. The first topographical account which has been handed to us, is in the Itineraries of William of Worcester, who visited this county about the year 1464. His work contains much valuable information; but, unfortunately, its historical details are so polluted with the prevailing superstition of the age in which he lived, that it is not in all cases easy to distinguish fact from fiction. William of Worcester was succeeded by Leland, in the days of Henry VIII. His work, though scarce, is still well known, and the minuteness of his researches, and the faithfulness of his details, have been deservedly appreciated by all his successors. Camden, who first published his Britannia in octavo, in 1586, takes notice of Cornwall as a part of Britain; but he descends to no minuteness of description, giving only a general account of its most distinguishing features.

The first regularly digested history of this county which appeared, is the Survey which was written by Richard Carew, Esq. and first published in the year 1602. This work has undergone several impressions, and is deservedly held in much esteem. Carew's delineations appear to have been made with much fidelity, and he has marked, with commendable accuracy, not only the distinguishing characteristics of the county, but the prevailing propensities, pursuits, and dispositions of the people whose manners he describes.

Norden, whose topographical and historical description of Cornwall may be considered as contemporary with Carew's Survey, appears to have collected his materials about the year 1584; but his history does not seem to have been fully written, until Carew's work appeared, the outline of which he has evidently copied. Of this work Mr. Tonkin observes as follows:-That "though it is on the whole a mean performance, and full of egregious mistakes, with defective maps of almost every hundred, yet there are several things in it, hardly to be found elsewhere."

About the year 1685, Mr. William Hals, a gentleman of St. Michael Penkivell, began to make collections for a parochial History of Cornwall, which with unremitting assiduity, he continued to prosecute for nearly half a century. It was brought down by him to the year 1736, but no part of it was published until after his death, which took place in 1739. In 1750, the printing of this work was begun in Truro by Andrew Brice, who afterwards removed to Exeter. An account of seventy-two parishes, alphabetically arranged, beginning with Advent, and ending with Helston,

was printed in folio numbers, which are now become exceedingly scarce. Having proceeded thus far, the work was suspended, and never more resumed; in consequence of which, his manuscripts were thrown aside, lent to various persons, and otherwise dispersed, so that at present nothing but detached fragments can any where be found. The reason assigned for the suspension of this work was, that the author spoke with too much freedom of the ancestors of many respectable families in the county, who withdrew their patronage, and thus prevented the completion of the work. The parochial history of Hals is one which all subsequent writers think they have a right to copy, and a privilege to abuse.

Contemporary with Hals, as a collector of materials for a parochial history, was Thomas Tonkin, Esq. of Trevaunance in St. Agnes. Mr. Tonkin seems to have begun his history in the year 1702, at which time he was so intimate with Mr. Hals, as to have the use of his manuscripts; but some difference taking place between them, all communication was broken off, and Mr. Tonkin speaking of Hals in 1739, says, "It is between twenty-five and thirty years since I have seen any of his collections, and I believe at least twenty since I have seen him. And I can safely say, that in this present work of mine, I have not made use of one single line out of his compositions." In 1737, Mr. Tonkin had made such progress in his collections, that he published proposals for printing, the work, announcing at the same time the plan which he intended to pursue. This work was to comprise the history and antiquities of the county in three volumes, imperial quarto. But after this annunciation of his intentions, very little was ever done by him towards the completion of his work. In the latter years of his life he was involved in pecuniary difficulties, which, preying upon his spirits, rendered him inattentive to study, so that he died in 1742, without printing any part of his history. Many of his papers are still preserved, and some of them were published as notes on Carew's Survey, in an edition printed in 1811, by Lord de Dunstanville. Of this work no opinion can be formed by those who have not seen the manuscript, except from the notes which are printed; and so far as these appear, it is to be regretted that it was never completed. In 1754, the celebrated Dr. Borlase published in one volume, folio, observations on the Antiquities of Cornwall, and in 1758, another folio volume, on the natural history of the county. A second edition of his Antiquities was published in 1769. Of these works, and their truly respectable author, an account may be found in our history of the modern literary characters of Cornwall.

In the year 1803, the Rev. Richard Polwhele, vicar of Manaccan, published three thin quartos; and in 1804, these were followed by a supplement to the first and second books, by the Rev. John Whitaker, rector of Ruan Lanyhorne, and well known in the literary world, as the author of the "History of Manchester," and other valuable works. This supplement contains remarks on St. Michael's Mount, Penzance, the Land's End, and the Scilly Islands. Of this history and its author some account has also been given among the modern literary characters of Cornwall.

In 1804, the Rev. John Whitaker published in two volumes, quarto, a work entitled " The ancient Cathedral of Cornwall historically surveyed." This work, though not a history of Cornwall, contains much valuable information on the introduction of Christianity, the saints to whom many churches are dedicated, and the changes which conquest and revolution have conspired to accomplish.

About the year 1802, Mr. John Britton in a large work entitled "The beauties of England and Wales," published his observations on Cornwall. His delineations are in general faithful; but the more prominent features of the county are chiefly those which engross his attention. He has said all that an author could be expected to say of any county, in a work which describes the beauties of an empire.

In the year 1806, the Rev. Benjamin Forster, rector of Boconnoc, in a small tract, quarto, published "Some account of the church and windows of St. Neots." This work has its excellencies, but it is confined to a single spot.

During this year, 1806, the Rev. R. Polwbele published two additional thin quartos, on the population, health, activity, longevity, diseases, language, and literary characters of Cornwall, with illustrations from Devonshire. These volumes were intended as continuations of the former, to give completion to the whole work, which contains much valuable information.

In 1809, the Rev. Richard Warner published his Tour through Cornwall, in a series of letters to his friend. They abound with classical allusions, and appropriate expressions; but are more remarkable for picturesque description and familiar communication, than for the variety of their materials, or the diligence of research. which the author has displayed. "He caught the manners living as they rose."

On the Ictis of Diodorus Siculus, Sir Christopher Hawkins has published a thin. octavo; but his views and observations are confined to Mount's Bay, and the Cornish Mount. This work appeared in 1811, and with its author has been noticed in the literary department of this history.

Of Dr. Pryce's Essay to preserve the ancient Cornish Language, which was published in 1790, an account has already been given. In the history of modern literary characters, this author is entitled to a conspicuous, place; but as his work has only a remote connexion with the histories of Cornwall, but little more than his name can be expected to appear in this place.

In 1814, Messrs. Dantel and Samuel Lysons published, in their topographical account of the several counties in Great Britain, a, quarto volume, comprehending the history of Cornwall. This work contains much valuable information, comprising the essential parts of what many others have given in detail, and is probably, on the whole, superior in its arrangements to any history of Cornwall that has hitherto appeared. It appears, however, from the copious errata which they give, that in many of their accounts they had, like several of their co-temporaries and predecessors, been deluded with false information. These errors they have endeavoured to correct; and in most instances they have been successful. From local and diminutive

inaccuracies no provincial history of any magnitude was ever yet exempt; and nothing of sufficient importance has thus far appeared to deprive this work of that intrinsic merit which it possesses.

Of the Scilly Islands, Dr. Borlase published in a thin quarto, a succinct account, in 1756. In this work he displays his usual abilities, in describing the islands from actual observation, and in comparing existing realities with the records of remote antiquity.

Mr. Troutbeck, chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Leeds, who resided several years on these islands, has published a more copious account of their appearance and productions than Dr. Borlase. It is also more modern by half a century; but unfortunately, neither the author, nor the printer, has given any date in which it was either written or printed. It appears, however, from a circumstance which is noticed in page 24th, that the author was on the islands in the year 1790, at which time his account was not written. This work, which cannot boast of much elegance in its composition, is replete with local information, and contains many curious facts, which serve to illustrate the ancient history of the islands, as well as to give information to mariners of the marks by which they may enter the harbours of Scilly with safety, and avoid those rocks which threaten the weather-beaten bark with destruction.

That all these works have their distinct excellencies, it is almost unnecessary to assert. Their respective authors either introduce new facts to our notice, or place those, with which we had been previously acquainted, in such combinations, as furuish new perceptions to their various readers, so that their individual labours have a claim on the gratitude of posterity. By surveying the state of civil society, of arts, of industry, and of the influence of moral principle, in the respective ages in which they lived, they give a kind of stationary existence to the characteristics which they display, and enable us to judge by comparing our condition with those conditions which they describe, of the progress which has been made in those various departments of civilization, science, and morals, which unitedly tend to soften the ferocity of the human character, and to exalt the offspring of ancient barbarians into men.

To all the preceding works and manuscripts so far as they were accessible, the editor has had recourse; collecting from them such observations as appeared' most worthy of regard, and connecting them with others, with which they had previously had no association; and to their various authors he now acknowledges his obligations. That this history, as it now appears, is a compilation, is a fact which has been uniformly avowed; nor is it possible that such parts as enter into the regions of remote antiquity, and detail the transactions of departed ages, can be otherwise, even though the combination of ideas should be new, and the language in which it is presented to the public, should assume the features of originality. Such, in no small degree, is actually the case with the present work; for although the radical ideas of many parts have often appeared, the language is chiefly new; while local