land and waded thorow the Sea to discouer all the creatures therein insensible sensible the course of method summoneth me to discourse of the reasonable to wit the Inhabitants and to plot downe whatsoeuer noteworthily belongeth to their estate reall and personall and to their gouernment spirituall and temporall Vnder their reall state I comprise all that their industrie hath procured either for priuate vse or entercourse and trasfike In priuate life there commeth into consideration their Tenements which yeeld them sustinance and their houses which afford them a place of abode Euerie tenement is parcell of the demaynes or seruices of some Mannor Commonly thirtie Acres make a farthing land nine farthings a Cornish Acre and foure Cornish Acres a Knights fee. But this rule is ouerruled to a greater or lesser quantitie according to the fruitfulnesse or barrennesse of the soyle That part of the demaines which appertaineth to the Lords dwelling house they call his Barten or Berton The tenants to the rest hold the same either by sufferance Wil or custome or by cōuention The customary tenaut holdeth at Wil either for yeeres or for liues or to them and their heires in diuers manners according to the custome of the Mannour Customarie Tenants for life take for one two three or more liues in possession or reuersion as their custome will beare Somewhere the wiues hold by widdowes estate and in many places when the estate is determined by the Tenants death and either to descend to the next in reuersion or to returne to the Lord yet will his Executor or Administrator detaine the land by the custome vntill the next Michaelmas after which is not altogether destitute of a reasonable pretence Amongst other of this customarie Land there are seuenteene Mannours appertaining to the Duchie of Cornwall who doe euerie leuenth yere take their Holdings so they terme thē of certain Comissioners sent for the purpose haue continued this vse for the best part of three hundred yeeres through which they reckon a kind of inheritable estate accrued vnto them But this long prescription notwithstanding a more busie then well occupied person not long sithence by getting a Checquer lease of one or two such tenements called the whole right in question and albeit God denyed his bad minde any good successe yet another taking vp this broken title to salue himselfe of a desperate debt prosecuted the same so far forth as he brought it to the iutty of a Nisiprius Hereon certayne Gentlemen were chosen and requested by the Tenants to become suiters for stopping this gap before it had made an irremediable breach They repayred to London accordingly and preferred a petition to the then L. Treasurer Burleigh His L. called vnto him the Chauncellour and Coife Barons of the Exchequer and tooke a priuate hearing of the cause It was there manifestly prooued before them that besides this long continuance and the importance as that which touched the vndooing of more then a thousand persons her Highnesse possessed no other lands that yeelded her so large a benefit in Rents Fines Heriots and other perquisites These reasons found fauourable allowance but could obtaine no thorough discharge vntill the Gentlemen became suppliants to her Maiesties owne person who with her natiue supernaturall bounty vouchsafed vs gratious audience testified her great dislike of the attempter gaue expresse order for stay of the attempt since which time this barking Dogge hath bene musled May it please God to award him an vtter choaking that he neuer haue power to bite againe Herein we were beholden to Sir Walter Raleghs earnest writing who was then in the Countrey to Sir Henry Killigrews sound aduice and to Master William Killigrews painefull soliciting being the most kinde patrone of all his Countrey and Countreymens affaires at Court. In times past and that not long agoe Holdings were so plentifull and Holders so scarce as well was the Land-lord who could get one to bee his Tenant and they vsed to take assurance for the rent by 2. pledges of the same Mannour But now the case is altred for a farme or as wee call it a bargaine can no sooner fall in hand then the Suruey Court shal be waited on with many Officers vying reuying each on other nay thei are taken mostly at a ground-hop before they fall for feare of comming too late And ouer and aboue the old yerely rent they will giue a hundred or two hundred yeeres purchace and vpward at that rate for a fine to haue an estate of three liues which summe commonly amounteth to ten or twelue yeeres iust value of the land As for the old rent it carrieth at the most the proportiō but of a tenth part to that whereat the tenement may be presently improued somewhere much lesse so as the Parson of the parish can in most places dispend as much by his tithe as the Lord of the Mannour by his rent Yet is not this deare setting eueriewhere alike for the westerne halfe of Cornewall commeth far short of the Easterne and the land about Townes exceedeth that lying farther in the Countrey The reason of this enhaunsed price may proue as I gesse partly for that the late great trade into both the Indies hath replenished these parts of the world with a larger store of the Coyne-currant mettals thē our anceltours enioyed partly because the banishment of single-liuing Votaries yonger mariages then of olde and our long freedome from any sore wasting warre or plague hath made our Countrey very populous and partly in that this populousnes hath inforced an industrie in them and our blessed quietnes giuen scope and meanes to this industrie But howsoeuer I ayme right or wide at this once certayne it is that for these husbandry matters the Cornish Inhabitants are in sundry points swayed by a diuerse opinion from those of some other Shires One that they will rather take bargaines at these excessiue fines then a tolerable improued rent being in no sort willing to ouer a penny for they reckon that but once smarting and this a continuall aking Besides though the price seeme very high yet mostly foure yeeres tillage with the husbandmans payne and charge goeth neere to defray it Another that they fal euery where from Commons to Inclosure and partake not of some Easterne Tenants enuious dispositions who will sooner preiudice their owne present thrift by continuing this mingle-mangle then aduance the Lords expectant benefit after their terme expired The third that they alwayes preferre liues before yeeres as both presuming vpon the Countries healthfulnesse and also accounting their family best prouided for when the husband wife and childe are sure of a liuing Neither may I without wrong conceyle the iust commendation of most such wiues in this behalfe namely when a bargaine is so taken to these three it often falleth out that afterwards the sonne marieth and deliuereth his yeruing-goods as they terme it to his father who in lieu thereof
vvhich it vvas graunted them to keepe a Court and hold plea of all actions life lymme and land excepted in consideration vvhereof the sayd Lords accorded to pay the Earle a halfpeny for euery pound of Tynne which should be wrought and that for better answering this taxe the sayd Tynne should bee brought to certayne places purposely appointed and there peized coyned and kept vntill the Earles due were satisfied Againe the Lords of these Tithings were for their parts authorised to manage all Stannerie causes and for that intent to hold Parliaments at their discretion and in regard of their labour there was allotted vnto them the toll-Tynne within those Tithings which their successours doe yet enioy This Charter was to be kept in one of the Church steeples within those Tithings and the Seale had a Pick-axe and Shouell in faultier grauen therein This I receiued by report of the late master William Carnsew a Gentleman of good qualitie discretion and learning and well experienced in these mynerall causes who auouched himselfe an eye-witnesse of that Charter though now it bee not extant Howbeit I haue learned that in former time the Tynners obtained a Charter from king Iohn and afterwards another from king Edward the first which were againe expounded confirmed and inlarged by Parliament in the fiftieth yeere of Edward the third and lastly strengthened by king Henrie the seuenth King Edward the firsts Charter granteth them liberty of selling their Tynne to their best behoofe Nisi saith he nos ipsi emere voluerimus Vpon which ground certaine persons in the Reignes of K. Edward 6. Queene Marie sought to make vse of this preemption as I haue beene enformed but either crossed in the prosecution or defeated in their expectation gaue it ouer againe which vaine successe could not yet discourage some others of later times from the like attempt alleadging many reasons how it might proue beneficiall both to her Highnesse and the Countrie and preiudiciall to none saue onely the Marchants who practised a farre worse kind of preemption as hath beene before expressed This for a while was hotely onsetted and a reasonable price offered but vpon what ground I know not soone cooled againe Yet afterwards it receiued a second life and at Michaelmas terme 1599. the Cornishmen then in London were called before some of the principal Lords of her Maiesties Council and the matter there debated by the Lord Warden in behalfe of the Countrie and certaine others deputed for the Marchants who had set this suite on foote In the end it grew to a conclusion and Articles were drawne and signed but they also proued of void effect Last of all the said Lord Warden in the beginning of Nouember 1600. called an assembly of Tynners at Lostwithiel the place accustomed impanelled a Iurie of twentie foure Tynners signified her Maiesties pleasure both for a new imposition of sixe pound on euerie thousand that should bee transported ouer and aboue the former fortie shillings and sixteene shillings alreadie payable as also that her Highnesse would disburse foure thousand pound in lone to the Tynners for a yeres space and bee repayed in tynne at a certaine rate By the foreremembred ancient Charters there is assigned a Warden of the Stanneries who supplieth the place both of a Iudge for Law and of a Chauncellour for conscience and so taketh hearing of causes either in Forma iuris or de iure aequo Hee substituteth some Gentlemen in the Shire of good calling and discretion to be his Vice-Warden from whome either partie complainant or defendant may appeare to him as from him a case of rare experience to the Lords of the Councill and from their Honours to her Maiesties person other appeale or remoouing to the common law they gaynsay The Gayle for Stannery causes is kept at Lostwithiel and that office is annexed to the Comptrolership The Tynners of the whole shire are deuided into foure quarters two called Moores of the places where the Tynne is wrought viz. Foy moore and Blacke moore the other Tiwarnaill and Penwith To each of these is assigned by the L. Warden a Steward who keepeth his Court once in euery three weekes They are termed Stannery Courts of the latine word Stannum in English Tynne and hold plea of whatsoeuer action of debt or trespasse whereto any one dealing with blacke or white Tynne either as plaintife or defendant is a party Their maner of triall consisteth in the verdict giuen by a Iurie of sixe Tynners according to which the Steward pronounceth iudgement He that will spare credit to the common report shall conceiue an ill opinion touching the slippings of both witnesses and Iurours sometimes in these Courts For it is sayd that the witnesses haue not sticked now and then to fasten their euidence rather for seruing a turne then for manifesting a truth and that the Iurours verdict hath sauoured more of affection then of reason especially in controuersies growne betweene strangers and some of the same parts And such fault-finders voutch diuers causes of this partialitie One that when they are sworne they vse to adde this word my conscience as the Romans did their Ex animi meisententia which is suspected to imply a conceyted enlargement of their othe Another that the varietie of customes which in euery place welneere differ one from another yeeldeth them in a maner an vnlimited scope to auerre what they list and so to close the best Lawyers mouth with this one speach Our custome is contrary And lastly that they presume vpon a kind of impunity because these sixe mens iuries fall not within compasse of the Star-chambers censure and yet the L. Wardens haue now then made the pillory punishment of some a spectacle example and warning to the residue For mine owne part I can in these Tynne cases plead but a hearesay experience and therefore will onely inferre that as there is no smoke without a fire so commonly the smoke is far greater then the fire Strange it were and not to be excepted that all poore Tynne Iurours and witnesses should in such a remote corner alwayes conforme themselues to the precise rule of vprightnesse when we see in the open light of our publike assises so many more iudicious and substantiall persons now and then to swarue from the same In matters of important consequence appertayning to the whole Stannery the L. Warden or his Vnder-warden vseth to impannell a Iury of foure and twenty principall Tynners which consist of sixe out of euery quarter returnable by the Maiors of the foure Stannery townes and whose acts doe bind the residue Next to the liuelesse things follow those which pertake a growing life and then a feeling The women and children in the West part of Cornwall doe vse to make Mats of a small and fine kinde of bents there growing which for their warme and well wearing are carried by sea to London and other parts of the Realme and serue to
who wedded Treuanion and his sonne Trestry Hee beareth A. a Pesse G. betweene 3. Sheldrakes proper Sawle who espoused Rashleigh and his father Kindall c. and beareth A. a Cheuron betweene 3. Fauleons heads erased S. Pider Hundred I Must now for a while bid the South sea late well vntill a new oportunity call mee to end the other part of Falmouth hauen and take the Hundred of Pider in taske which confineth with Powder in situation as it resembleth the same in denomination Pider in Cornish is 4. in English and this is the fourth Hundred of Cornwall if you begin your reckoning from the Wester part at Pen with which signifying a head doth seeme so to requirele In entring this Hundred Padstowe first presenteth it selfe a towne and hauen of suteable quality for both though bad are the best that the North Cornish coast possesseth The Borough gaue name to the harbour and borrowed it of Petrock and Stowe contracting the same into Padstowe It hath lately purehased a corporation and reapeth greatest thrift by traffiking with Ireland for which it commodiously lieth The harbor is barred with baÌ„ks of sand made through vniting their weake forces sufficieÌ„tly strong to resist the Oceans threatning billows which diuorced from their parent find their rage subdued by the others lowly submission M. Nicholas Prideaux from his new and stately house thereby taketh a ful and large prospect of the towne hauen countrey adioyning to all which his wisdome is a stay his authority a direction He maried one of Viels coheires and though endowed with fayre reuennues in Deuonâ—aketh â—aketh Cornwall beholdeâ— to his residence He beareth A. a Cheuron S. in chiefe a fyle with three Lambeaux G. The salt water leauing Padstowe floweth vp into the countrey that it may embrace the riuer Camel and hauing performed this naturall courtesie ebbeth away againe to yeeld him the â—â—â—er passage by which meanes they both vndergoe Wade bridge the longest strongest and fayresh that the Shine can muster It tooke his name of a foorde adioyning which affoordeth a way not so safe as compendious when the tyde is out Wade bridge deliuereth you into a waste ground where 9. long and great stones called The sisters stand in a ranke together and seeme to haue bene so pitched for continuing the memory of somewhat whose notice is yet enuied vs by time Neere to Belowdy commonly not vnproperly termed Beelowzy the too of a hill is enuironed with deep treble trenches which leaue a large playne space in the midst they call it Castellan Danis of which my former booke maketh mention and it seemeth in timespast to haue bin a matter of moment the rather for that a great cawfey now couered with grasse doth lead vnto it Saint Colombs is a bigge parish and a meane market towne subiect to the Lordship and patronage of the Lanhearn Arundels who for many descents lye there interred as the inscriptions on their graue stones doe testify Their name is deriued from Hirundelle in French a Swallow out of France at the conquest they came sixe Swallows they giue in Armes The Country people entitle them The great Arundels and greatest stroke for loue liuing and respect in the Countrey heretofore they bare Their sayd house of Lanhearne standeth in the next parish called Mawgan Ladu is Cornish for a bank and on a banke the same is seated what hearne may meane ignorance bids mee keepe silence It is appurtenanced with a large scope of land which while the owners there liued was employed to franke hospitality yet the same wanted wood in lieu whereof they burned heath and generally it is more regardable for profit then commendable for pleasure The Gent. now liuing maried Anne the daughter of Henry Gernâ—â—gham his father a man of a goodly presence and kinde magnanimity maried the daughter of the Earle of Darby and widdow to the L. Stourton He beareth S. 6. Swallowes in pile A. Little Colan hath lesse worth the obseruation vnlesse you will detide or pity their simplicity who sought at our Lady Nants well there to foreknowe what fortune should betide them which was in this maner Vpon Palm Sunday these idle-headed seekers resorted thither with a palme crosse in one hand an offring in the other the offring fell to the Priests share the Crosse they threwe into the well which if it swamme the party should outliue that yeere if it sunk a short ensuing death was boded and perhaps not altogether vntruely while a foolish conceyt of this halsening might the sooner helpe it onwards A contrary practise to the goddesse Iunoes lake in Laconia for there if the wheateÌ„ cakes cast in vpon her festiuall day were by the water receiued it betokened good luck if reiected euill The like is written by Pausanias of Inus in Greece and by others touching the offrings throwne into the fomace of mount Etoa in Sicill From hence by the double duety of consanguinitie and affinity I am called to stop at Colowarth which inhabitance altered the Inhabitants from their former French name Escudifer in English Iron shield to his owne as they prooue by olde euidence not needing in the Norman Kings new birth to be distinguished with the Raigners number Cosowarth in Cornish importeth The high groue and well stored with trees it hath bene neither is yet altogether destitute Iohn the heire of that house hauing by the daughter of Williams issue only one daughter Katherine suffered part of his lands to descend vnto the children of her first husband Alen Hill another part hee intayled in her second marriage with Arundel of Trerice to their issue The house of Cosowarth and the auncient in heritance there adioyning he gaue to the heires male of his stock by which conueyance his vncle Iohn succeeded who married the daughter of Sir Wil. Lock King H. the 8. marchant and by him knighted for that with equall courage and hazard hee tooke downe the Popes Bull set vp at Antwerp against his Soueraigne He had issue Thomas Edward Michael Iohn and Robert Thomas maried the daughter of Samtubyn on whom he begat Iohn and Dorothy Iohn the elder and Robert neuer tasted the sweet and sowre of bridale fruit Michael tooke to wife Sidenhams daughter of Dulâ—â—â—…rton in Somersetshire and is father onely of issue female Hee addicteth himselfe to an Ecclesiasticall life and therein ioyning Poetry with Diuinity endeuoureth to imitate the holy Prophet Dauid whose Psalmes of his translation into English meeter receiue the general applause beyond a great many other wel-deseruing vndertakers of the same taske Iohn the yongest succeeding in this inheritance vpon iust cause good conscience and gratefull kindenesse renewed the intayle which his father Thomas had cut off and in a single restate and the vniuersall loue of all that conuersed with him made a short period of his long hoped life whose decease I bewayled in these times HE that at sea and land
amidst his foes By courage guided sought and scapt his death Loe here amongst his friends whom liking chose And nature lent hath vp resign'd his breath Vnripened fruit in grouth precious in hope Rare in effect had fortune giuen scope Our eyes with teares performe thine obsequy And hearts with sighes since hands could yeeld none aid Our tongues with praise preserue thy memory And thing his with grieft since we behind are staid Coswarth farewell death which vs parts atwaine E're long in life shall vs conioyne againe His sister maried Kendall Edward his vncle and heire by vertue of these entayles married the daughter of Arundel of Trerice and from a ciuill Courtiers life in his younger yeeres reposeth his elder age on the good husbandry of the country hauing raised posterity sufficient for transplanting the name into many other quarters He beareth A. on a Cheuron betweene three wings B. fiue Bezants Against you haue passed towards the West somewhat more then a mile Trerice anciently Treres oftreth you the viewe of his costly and commodious buildings What Tro is you know already res signifieth a rushing of fieeting away and vpon the declyning of a hill the house is seated In Edward the 3. raigne Ralphe Arundel matched with the heire of this land and name since which time his issue hath there continued and encreased their liuelyhood by sundry like Inheritours as S. Iohn Iew Durant Thurlebear c. Precisely to rip vp the whole pedigree were more tedious then behoouefull and therefore I will onely as by the way touch some fewe poynts which may serue in part to shew what place regard they haue borne in the Common wealth There was an Indenture made betweene Hugh Courtney Earle of Deuon Leiutenant to the King for a sea voyage in defence of the Realme and Sir Iohn Arundel of Trerice for accompanying him therein He was Sherife of Cornwall Iohn Earle of Huntingdon vnder his seale of Armes made Sir Iohn Arundel of Trerice Seneshall of his houshold as well in peace as in warre gaue him ten pound fee and allowed him entertaynment in his house for one Gentleman three Yeoman one boy and sixe horses The same Earle stiling himselfe Lieutenant generall to Iohn Duke of Bedford Constable and Admirall of England wrote to the said Sir Iohn Arundel then Vice-admirall of Cornwall for the release of a ship which hee had arrested by vertue of his office The Queene by her letter aduertised Iohn Arundel of Trerice Esquire that she was brought in child-bed of a Prince The King wrote to Sir Iohn Arundel of Trerice that he should giue his attendance at Canterbury about the entertaynment of the Emperour whose landing was then and there expected Iohn Arundel of Trerice Esquire tooke prisoner Duncane Campbell a Scot in a fight at sea as our Chronicle mentioneth concerning which I though it not amisse to insert a letter sent him from Tho. Duke of Norfolke to whom he then belonged that you may see the stile of those dayes By the Duke of Norf. RIght welbeloued in our hearty wise we commend vs vnto you letting you with that by your seruant this bearer wee haue receiued your letters dated at Truru the 5. day of this moneth of April by which we perceyue the goodly valiant and ieopardous enterprise it hath pleased God of late to send you by the taking of Duncane Camel other Scots on the sea of which enterprise we haue made relation vnto the Kings Highnesse who is not a little ioyous and glad to heare of the same and hath required vs instantly in his name to giue you thanks for your said valiant courage and bolde enterprise in the premises and by these our letters for the same your so doing we doe not onely thanke you in our most effectuall wise but also promise you that during our life wee will bee glad to aduaunce you to any preferment we can And ouer this you shall vnderstand our said Soueraigne Lords pleasure is that you shall come and repaire to his Highnes with diligence in your owne person bringing with you the said Captiue and the Master of the Scottish ship at which time you shall not onely be sure of his especiall thanks by mouth to know his further pleasure therein but also of vs to further any your reasonable pursuits vnto his Highnes or any other during our life to the best of our power accordingly Written at Lambeth the 11. day of Aprill aforesaid Superscribed To our right welbeloued seruant Iohn Arundell of Trerice The King wrote to Sir Iohn Ar. of Trerice touching his discharge from the Admiralty of the fleete lately committed vnto him that he should deliuer the ship which he sayled in to Sir Nic. Poynts The same yere the King wrote to him againe that he should attend him in his warres against the French king with his seruants tenants and others within his roomes and offices especially horsemen Other letters from the King there are whose date is not expressed neither can I by any meanes hunt it out One to his seruant Iohn Arundel of Trerice Esquire willing him not to repaire with his men and to wayte in the rereward of his army as hee had commaunded him but to keepe them in a readinesse for some other seruice Another to Sir Iohn Arundel of Trerice praying and desiring him to the Court the Quindene of Saint Hillarie next wheresoeuer the King shall then bee within the Realme There are also letters directed to Sir Iohn Arundell of Trerice from the Kings Counsell by some of which it appeareth that hee was Vice admirall of the Kings shippes in the West seas and by others that hee had the goods and lands of certaine Rebels giuen him for his good seruice against them The Queene wrote to Sir Iohn Arundell of Trerice praying and requiring him that hee with his friends and neighbours should see the Prince of Spaine most honourably entertained if he fortuned to land in Cornwall Shee wrote to him being then Sherife of Cornwall touching the election of the Knights of the shire and the Burgesses for the Parliament Shee likewise wrote to him that notwithstanding the instructions to the Iustices hee should muster and furnish his seruants tenants and others vnder his rule and offices with his friends for the defence and quieting of the Countrie withstanding of enemies and any other imployment as also to certifie what force of horse and foote he could arme These few notes I haue culled out of many others Sir Iohn Arundell last mentioned by his first wife the coheire of Beuill had issue Roger who died in his fathers life time and Katherine married to Prideaux Roger by his wife Trendenham left behind him a sonne called Iohn Sir Iohns second wife was daughter to Erisy and widdow to Gourlyn who bare him Iohn his succeeder in Tretice and much other faire reuenewes whose due commendation because another might better