The Survey of Cornwall Part 23

And all these seruices about my pond, together with sundry other, are performed by an old fellow whome I [106] keepe for almes, and not for his worke. The best meanes of preuenting leakage, is to let three or foure shouels full of earth fall softly downe, by the inner side of the flood-gate, which will quurt vp his c.h.i.n.kes.

In winter season, sixe foote depth of water, at least, is requisite.

Now touching the fish, this is the maner: when the Pilcherd Sayners cut the most impayred pieces out of their nets, they are bought for a trifle, and serue to make a lesse Sayne, of fome 30. or 40. fathom length, and 2. in depth, for this purpose, wherewith, betweene Midsummer and the end of August, when the full sea falleth in the after-noones, my people make draughtes on the shallow places within harbour, and taking small fishes, cast them into the pond: they are kept & brought thither aliue, in a boat halfe full of water, which entreth thorow a little augre hole in the bottome, and so continueth new. The fish thus taken, are commonly Ba.s.se, Millet, Guilthead, Whiting, Smelts, Flouk, Plaice, and Sole. The pond also breedeth Crabs, Eeles, & Shrimps; and (in the beginning) Oysters grew vpon boughs of trees (an Indian miracle) which were cast in thither, to serue as a houer for the fish. The Ba.s.se and Millet do also sp.a.w.n there, but whether they ouerliue their breeders rauening, to any big growth, I am not certayne. The pond will moreouer keepe Shote, Peale, Trought, and Sammon, in seasonable plight, but not in their wonted reddish graine. They feed on salt vnmarchantable Pilcherd, small fish, called Brit, and Barne, Tag-wormes, Lugges, little Crabs, & the liuers of beasts: the rest deuoure their meat, but the Millets content themselues with sucking it, and chawing of the sedge. Euery euening they come to a place certain in the pond, for receiuing their allowed pittance, and in Summer, approche very neere, and in the top of the water plainly discouer themselues.

They were first trayned hereunto, by throwing in their bayte at the ponds mouth, as they resorted thither, to take pleasure of the new entring water, and are now become alike tame, with those in the Sicilian riuer Elorus, for which, Leonicus voucheth the testimony of Apollodorus. If they be absent, a knocking, like the chopping of their meat, serueth for a summons to call them, & confirmeth Plynies a.s.sertion, that fishes do heare. In the hotest Summer weather, they swimme with the ryme of the water; and in the Winter, keepe the depth. Lymy, or thicke puddelly water, killeth them: they grow very fast, and fatte, which also bettereth their taste, and deliuereth them to the demaunders ready vse, at all seasons, seasonable.

They are taken generally, by a little Sayne net: specially the Eeles in weelies: the Flowks, by groping in the sand, at the mouth of the pond, where (about Lent) they bury themselues to sp.a.w.n; & the Ba.s.se and Millet by angling.

The pleasure which I took at my friends pleasure herein, idlely busied me thus to expresse the same.

I Wayt not at the Lawyers gates, Ne shoulder clymers downe the stayres; I vaunt not manhood by debates, I enuy not the misers feares: But meane in state, and calme in sprite, My fishfull pond is my delight.

Where equall distant Iland viewes His forced banks, and Otters cage :

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Where salt and fresh the poole renues, As Spring and drowth encrease or swage: Where boat presents his seruice prest, And net becomes the fishes nest;

There sucking Millet, swallowing Ba.s.se, Side-walking Crab, wry-mouthed Flooke, And flip-fist Eele, as euenings pa.s.se, For safe bayt at due place doe looke: Bold to approche, quick to espy, Greedy to catch, ready to fly.

In heat the top, in cold the deepe: In spring the mouth, the mids in neap: With changelesse change by shoales they keepe, Fat, fruitfull, ready, but not cheap : Thus meane in state, and calme in sprite, My fishfull pond is my delight.

And againe.

STench-louing Flies, their father heat, On mother, moysture doth beget; Who feeling force of Sunne too great, Their course vnto some water set, There meane of calmy ayre to proue, Twixt coole below and warmth aboue.

But carelesse of foresight in weale, The euening deaw droplodes their wing, So forst, downe-falne, for flight to fayle, With buzzing moane their bane they sing, Fluttering in waue, swimming in ayre, That, weake to drowne, and this, to beare.

While thus they can nor liue nor dye, Nor water-gieu'd, escape away,

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The fish and swallowes it espie, And both them challenge for their pray; The fish as caught within their toyle, The Swallowes as their kindely spoyle.

The fish, like Swallowes, mount on high, The Swallowes, fish-like diue in waue, These, finlesse swimme, those, winglesse fly, One bent their diuers ventures haue, Fish in the drye, Swallowes in wet, By kinde 'gainst kinde their prey to get.

Their push a bubble vp doth reare, The bubble driues the Fly to brinke: So Fish in vaine deuoure the ayre, Swallowes in vayne the water drinke, While Fly escapes, this sport I take.

Where pond doth th' Ocean captiue make.

I carried once a purpose, to build a little woodden banqueting house, on the Iland in my pond, which because some other may (perhaps) elsewhere put in execution, it wil not do much amisse, to deliuer you the plot, as the same was deuised for mee, by that perfectly accomplished gentleman, the late Sir Arthure Champernowne.

The Iland is square, with foure rounds at the corners, like Mount-Edgec.u.mb. This should first have bene planched ouer and rayled about, with ballisters. In themidst, there should haue risen a boorded roome, of the like fas.h.i.+on, but lesser proportion, so to leaue sufficient s.p.a.ce betweene that and the rayles for a walke round about: this square roome should within side haue bene sieled roundwise, and in three of the places where [108] the round joyned with the square, as many windowes should haue bene set; the fourth should haue serued for a dore. Of the 4. turrets, shut out by this round, one should haue made a kitchin, the second, a store-house, to keepe the fis.h.i.+ng implements, the third, a b.u.t.tery, & the fourth a stayre, for ascending to the next loft: which next loft should haue risen on the flat roofe of the lower, in a round forme, but of a lesser size againe, so to leaue a second Tarras, like the other: and as the square roome below was sieled round, so should this vpper round roome be sieled square, to the end, that where the side walks and sieling ioyned, three windowes and a doore might likewise find their places. The voyd s.p.a.ces be- tweene the round and square, hee would haue turned to Cupboards and boxes, for keeping other necessary vtensiles, towards these fis.h.i.+ng feasts.

Ouer-against this pond, lyeth beggers Iland, so called (as our neighbours relate) euer since my great grandsire espying 2. of that idle occupation, at a hote combate on the sh.o.r.e, while he was rowing homewards from Saltash, tooke them into his boat, & there set them on land, to try (as in a lists) the vttermost of their quarrell: which place they could not quit, vntil the low water should enfranchise them by wading & the respite, vent out the alye fume of their fury.

About 40. yeres agoe, it chanced, that a boat ouer-fraighted with people, in rowing downe the riuer from Saltash market, was by the extreme weather, sunk, neere to a place called Henpoint, and all the folke drowned, sauing one onely woman, named Agnes, the wife of one Cornish, whom it pleased G.o.d so to protect and direct, that in her first popping vp againe (which most liuing things accustome) shee espyed the boat (after it had discharged his burthen) risen likewise, and floting by her, full of water, whereon she got holde, sate astride vpon one of his sides, and by the winde and tyde, was vnusually, and almost miraculously driuen athwart the chanell, to a place called Wilcoue, where shee no sooner stepped ash.o.r.e, but the boat (as hauing done his enioyned errand) presently recommited it selfe to the stormes disposition.

The woman thus freed from one peril at sea, aduentured another of little lesse consequence at land; for being not yet thoroughly restored to her sense, she clymed vp the cliffe in such a steepe place, as the very consideration thereof, doth euer sithence halfe amaze the beholders. But that ground was fore ordained to her good: for not long after, her husband tooke the same, with the rest of the tenement, in lease; and it now serueth her for a dwelling, and many others, by her charitie, for a reliefe.

Her sayd husband, & their two onely sonnes, at seuerall times, by one kind of misfortune, found their buriall in the waues.

The Oysters dredged in this Lyner, finde a welcomer acceptance, where the taste, & not appet.i.te, is Cater for the stomack, then those of the adioyning Tamer, which groweth (as I coniecture) because Lyners lesser streame leaueth them to bee seasoned, with a more kindely and better relished saltnes.

The next parish vpon this riuer, is called Sheuiock, somtimes the ancient Dannyes inheritance & inhabitance: by whose daughter and heire, the same (together with other faire possessions) descended to the Earles of Deuon. In [109] the church there lie two Knights of that name, and one of their ladies by her husbands side, having their pictures embossed on their tombes in the side walles, and their Armes once painted round about; but now by the malice, not of men, but of time, defaced. They are held to be father and sonne, and that the sonne slayne in our warres with Fraunce, was from thence brought home to be here interred. There runneth also a tale amongst the paris.h.i.+oners, how one of these Dannyes ancestours vndertook to build the Church, and his wife the barne adioyning, and that, casting vp their accounts, vpon finis.h.i.+ng of their workes, the barne was found to cost three halfepence more then the Church: and so it might well fall out: for it is a great barne, and a little Church.

In this parish standeth Crasthole, which by the high site, might more fitly be termed Open hill, a poore village but a much frequented thorow-fare, somewhat infamous, not vpon any present desert, but through an inueterate byword, viz. that it is peopled with 12.

dwellings, and 13. cuckolds: for as the dwellings are more then doubled, so (I hope) the cuckolds are lesse then singled.

Howsoeuer, many wayfarers make themselues glee, by putting the Inhabitants in minde of this priuiledge; who againe, especially the women (like the Campellians in the North, and the London Bargers) forslow not to baigne them (vnlesse they plead their heels the faster) with a worse perfume, then Iugurth found fault with in the dungeon, where the Romanes buried him aliue, to attend his languis.h.i.+ng and miserable death.

Vpon Sheuiock abb.u.t.teth S. Germanes, the greatest parish in Cornwall, if you ioyne to the store of people, the quant.i.ty and quality of the soyle, wherethrough it affoordeth commodious dwellings to sundry ancient Gentlemen, and wealthy Farmours; amongst which first sort, I may not (without withdrawing my testimony due to vertue) omit M. George Keckwitch of Catch-French, a house so named (by likelyhood) for some former memorable, though now forgotten accident, whose continuall, large, and inquisitiue liberality to the poore, did in the late deare yeres, extraordinarily extend it selfe to an inuiting emulation, but beyond the apprehensiue imitation of any other in the s.h.i.+re. He hath issue by Blanch, the daughter of Sir Frauncis G.o.dolphin: his father George, maried Buller: his graundsire [blank]

their ancient dwelling was in Ess.e.x, where this Gentleman enioyeth fayre possessions, & beareth for his armes, Ar. two Lyons in bend pa.s.sant Sa. cotifed, G.

The Church towne mustreth many inhabitants, and sundry ruines, but little wealth, occasioned eyther through abandoning their fis.h.i.+ng trade, as some conceiue, or by their being abandoned of the religious people, as the greater sort imagine: for in former times, the Bishop of Cornwals See, was from S. Petrocks in Bodmyn, remooued hither; as from hence, when the Cornish Dioces vnited with Deuon, it pa.s.sed to Crediton: and lastly, from thence to Excester. But this first losse receyued reliefe through a succeeding Priory, which at the general suppression, changing his note with his coate, is now named Port Eliot, and by the owners charity distributeth, pro virili, the almes accustomably expected and expended at at such places. Neither will it (I thinke) much displease you to heare, how the gentlemans ancestour, of whom master Eliot bought it, came by the same.

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Iohn Champernowne, sonne and heire apparent to Sir Philip of Deuon, in H. the 8. time, followed the Court, and through his pleasant conceits, of which much might be spoken, wan some good grace with the King. Now when the golden showre of the dissolued Abbey lands, rayned welnere into euery gapers mouth, some 2. or 3. gentlemen, the Kings seruants, and master Champernownes acquaintance, waited at a doore where the King was to pa.s.se forth, with purpose to beg such a matter at his hands: Our gentleman became inquisitiue to know their suit: they made strange to impart it. This while, out comes the King: they kneele down, so doth master Champernowne: they preferre their pet.i.tion; the King graunts it: they render humble thanks, and so doth M. Champernowne: afterwards, he requireth his share; they deny it; he appeales to the King: the King avoweth his equall meaning in the largesse; whereon, the ouertaken companions were fayne to allot him this Priory for his partage.

The parish Church answereth in bignesse, the large proportion of the parish, & the surplusage of the Priory; a great part of whose chauncell anno 1592. fel suddenly downe, vpon a Friday, very shortly after publike seruice was ended, which heauenly fauour, of so little respite, saued many persons liues, with whom immediately before, it had bene stuffed: and the deuout charges of the well disposed paris.h.i.+oners quickly repayred this ruine.

At the townes end, Cuddenbeak, an ancient house of the Bishops, from a well aduanced Promontory, which int.i.tuled it Beak, taketh a pleasant prospect of the riuer.

In this parish lyeth Bake, the mansion of the foreremembred M. Ro. Moyle, who maried Anne daughter of M. Lock, as he did mistris Vaughan, a Gentlewoman suppressing her rare learning, with a rarer modesty, & yet expressing the same in her vertuous life and Christian decease. Iohn father to Robert maried Agnes, daughter of Semtabyn : and his father [blank] daughter of Forteskew, to whom that dwelling first descended. He beareth for his Armes, G.

a Moyle pa.s.sant, Ar. a part of this parish confineth on the maine sea & offreth a faire landing place, called Seaton, howbeit, by a handsome fence forbidding any foes inuasion: it is ouerlooked, vpon the one side of the riuer (which there dischargeth his streame into the Ocean) by Keuerel, the ancient house of the Langdons, Gent, in former times, of faire reuennues, whose Armes are Ar. a Cheuron betweene 3. Beares heads erased Sa. The house perhaps, borowing his name of Cheuereul, a French word, signifying a wild Goat (as those high clifs affoord them a commodious inhabitance) and on the other, by Tregonnock, the dwelling of M. Tho. Smith, who in a quiet and honest retirednes, findeth that contentment, which many ambitious heads, far and wide doe vainely seeke for: hee maried Tremayn: his father Robert [blank] one of the daughters and heires to Killigrew: and his sonne Iohn, Priscilla the daughter of M. Geo. Wadham. His Armes, B. a Saultier Ar. betweene 4. Martlets O.

Leauing S, Germanes, and pa.s.sing through Laurake parish, in which M. Peter Courtney hath an high seated house, called Wotton, you descend to Noddetor bridge, where the riuer Lyner first mingleth his fresh streame with the brinish waues: touching whose name and quality, one delighted in the solitary solace of his banks, & more affecting his owne recreation, then hunting after any others good liking, descanted thus:

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WHo first gaue Lyners name, Or from what cause it came, Hard 'tis for certaine to expresse: Experience yet directs, By tryall of effects, Thereat to ayme, and frame a gesse, Is't, that as she thee bear'th, So thou doest line the earth, With purseld streames of blew and white: Or, as a line doth guide, So thou doest leuell slide, And throw'st into the sea thy mite?

Is't, that with twisted line, The Angler doth vntwine The fishes life, by giuing breath.

Or, as the thres.h.i.+ng lout, Rusheth his Lyners out, So Lyner on his course rusheth: Or, as some puppy seat, Lineth a mastiue great, And getteth whelps of mongrell kinde: Lyner, the sea so lines, And streame with waue combines, Begetting waters freshly brin'de.

Item.

WHen Sunne the earth least shadow spares, And highest stalles in heauen his seat, Then Lyners peeble bones he bares, Who like a lambe, doth lowly bleat, And faintly sliding euery rock, Plucks from his foamy fleece a lock:

Before, a riuer, now a rill, Before, a fence, now scarce a bound; Children him ouer-leape at will, Small beasts, his deepest bottome sound.

The heauens with bra.s.se enarch his head, And earth, of yron makes his bed,

But when the milder-mooded skie, His face in mourning weedes doth wrap, For absence of his clearest eie, And drops teares in his Centers lap, Lyner gynnes Lyon-like to roare, And scornes old bankes should bound him more.

Then, second Sea, he rolles, and bear's, Rockes in his wombe, rickes on his backe.

Downe-borne bridges, vptorne wear's, Witnesse, and wayle, his force, their wracke.

Into mens houses fierce he breakes, And on each stop, his rage he wreakes.

Shepheard adiew's his swymming flocke, The Hinde his whelmed haruest hope, The strongest rampire fear's his shocke, Plaines scarce can serue to giue him scope, Nor hils a barre; whereso he stray'th, Ensue, losse, terrour, ruine, death.