A Brief History of Cornish 2
The Rowe Family Manuscript
Preface to
the Rowe Family Manuscript
This is a rare document in Family History, not only
does it contain a Family History written in the early 19th Century
but also translations of various chapters of the Bible into Cornish in the late
Seventeenth Century by a member of the Family William Rowe, alias Willow Kereve
in the Cornish Language being his Mother Tongue. He was born in 1660, the son
of Matthew and Ann Rowe in Eglosburyan (St. Buryan) and lived at Boyejowan in
the Hundred of St. Just in Penwith and farmed at
The original version of this manuscript passed to his
Brother Matthew and then down to Williams Grandson also called William and
known as ‘Philosopher
Rowe’. He added to the manuscript,
writing a family history, and making notes on the continued use of Cornish
words in the every day tongue of the local working populace.
The manuscript by the beginning of the twentieth
century was in the
If anybody knows anything about
this missing piece of history then please contact me
Or if anybody has any information about the Rowe,
Richard or Marrack family of Penwith and the Lizard then I would love to hear
from them.
Jonathan Kereve-Clarke
The Original Preface to the Family Manuscript:
FROM A MANUSCRIPT of 354 pages, about half of which
was written by my Grandfather, WILLIAM ROWE, of Torleven, Cornwall, in the year
1830: (the other part having been compiled by him from an almost illegible
Manuscript written by his Great Grandsire 250 years earlier), I have printed a
few pages which I thought would be of interest to his Descendants who might not
have the opportunity of reading the MS in the original.
In a second-hand book store on Cornhill,
I have heard my mother state that her father was most
unassuming, and though he could speak and write seven different languages, and
was always spoken of as "Philosopher Rowe", yet he was a man whom
everybody liked and whom anyone could approach. He did not often go to hear
Wesley's preachers (the
In the Memoirs are quotations from Voltaire, Thompson,
Dyer, Gray, Plato, Flavell, Wesley, Cowper, Pope, Parnell, L'Abbe Fleury,
Horace, Shakespeare, Milton, Young and numerous others.
The "Carroll for Twelfe Daye" I print
verbatim as it gives a good idea of the spelling in the Sixteenth Century. The
writer of the Memoirs says respecting it :- "You
will find that it gives us a beautiful specimen of the Manners of our
Forefathers; how they rejoiced and throve during Christmas; and repented and
punished themselves by fasting the ensuing Lent."
When a boy, I saw at the house of Mrs. Trounson, a
book of poetry, composed and printed for private circulation by me Grandfather,
but whether it is now in existence I am unable to say.
That my Grandsire was a great student of the Bible is
conclusively shown by the numerous places in the Memoirs where chapter and verse are given to prove his points. Of his seven daughters,
Charlotte, Esther, Phoebe (?) and Grace were unmarried: the married daughters
were Ann (my mother), Amelia (Mrs. Trounson), and Mrs. Victor, whose Christian
name I cannot remember.
In conclusion, I quote Lord Bacon from memory,
"No one ever despised noble birth except him who had it not; and no one
boasted of it who had anything better of which to
boast."
JOHN ROWE
THE WORTHIES OF POW KERNOW
ETYMOLOGY AND GENEALOGY
______
MEMOIRS
of
the
K E R E V E F
A M I L Y
and
also
SELECT
WORKS
of the same
Primarily
displaying a specimen of the final manner
In which the Original Language
of
was spoken and written, just before it
ceased between
the
AL
S O
A
Vocabulary
(written by one of the
Descendants of W I L L O W
K E R E V E
) of those Cornish
words that were retained in common-
discourse among the Vulgar in the aforesaid
County after the Cornish Language was entirely
lost.
-------------------------------------------------------------
KE { The very original; and
certainly a rude name it was, like the wild inhabitants of ancient
KEREVE { After the Romans had twice
conquered and afterwards utterly forsaken this
KEREWE { By the Inroads and Conquests of
the Saxons and Danes, and their Government.
ROWE { Soon after the Norman Conquest of England (whereby the
English language became what it is) to
the present time.
The above being a Synopsis of the Derivation of the word
ROWE, well known as a Family-name.
D E A R D E S C E N D A N T S,
The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich: he bringeth low
and lifteth up.
1. Sam. ii.7.
But God is the Judge: he putteth down one and setteth
up another.
Psal. lxxv.7.
The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker
of them all.
Prov. xxii.2.
And in Homer's Iliad x, we may find it written to this
effect:
Beware of manners proud:
For we ourselves must labour,
at our birth
By Jove ordained to suff'ring and to toil.
I shall now describe the change of the Original
Family-name KEREVE into English, as by this means it was turned into a smoother
sound, and easier for pronouncing. This alteration into an English Name instead
of a Cornish one, very orderly took place as the present English Language
predominated.
By the best accounts of our Forefathers concerning our
Original name, albeit for many Centuries past they always write ROWE, the most
antient and proper one was KEREVE at the time the Romans left this
In regard to the change of the name, KEREVE
degenerated at first into KEREUE or KEREWE, and after the time of William the
Conqueror, it was at last altered to Rowe; so that our Family-Name is at
present both Cornish and English, mixed together. Different Parish Clerks have
written it ROWE, ROW, ROE, in the oldest registers extant; whereas
if the KE might have been left out, the remainder of the proper Original word
should always have been written instead of the whole, rather than turn it into
another word, i.e. Rewe and not Rowe; but then probably it would appear too
much like a Cornish name instead of looking like an English one.
(Note that
the Cornish Scholar William Rowe’s name is written as KEREW in many books,
whereas the family spelt it KEREVE, Scholars and Historians having taken the
spelling from a handwritten copy of his work, the family having possession of
the original manuscript, alas now lost).
Now, there is a Cornish word which is spelt Ro, and
when used as a verb, it signifies to give; but when used as a noun, it
signifies A GIFT. Furthermore, when two nouns or substantive's come together in
the Cornish Language, the one of them must always be understood in the Genitive
case.
That REW and RUE are similar words, through the
proximity of
The Britons named the Country that was alloted to
them, (or I should rather say, that small part of
We come now to the reign of a King named Richard; and
I cannot ascertain better than that our Primogenitour having some Sons, was
willing that they should go to the Crusades, though by equipping so many at his
own expence made him somewhat indigent; and they (like several others of their countrymen)
being Valiant and full of Zeal for the cause of Religion, undertook that
warfare accordingly.....Little account can be given of more than Two that ever
returned, and being old as it is imagined when they departed, it is uncertain
whether our Primogenitour saw them return: but the one upon coming home settled
in the Parish of LAMBERTON (generally called LAMMERTON) in the Shire of Devon,
where most of his Father's Lands lay; and the other in the Parish of St. Just
(generally called by the name of St. Eust) in Cornwall, where their Father's
rights were not so extensive.
About this time returned also the sire of the Keigwin
Family whose lands were situated in the Parish of St. Paul, comprising the
village of Ragennis, and the southern part of a small Market-Town about half a
mile off - (which from the remarkable irregularity of its scite has been since
named) Mousehole, as it is now called, being a shorter name than its former
Cornish one. In "A Short History
& Description of the Parish Church of St. Pol de Leon, it records that
eight years after the Spanish Armada, they returned and that in the Parish of
Paul 'a desperate encounter took place'. "There was a staunch resistance
as is revealed in the Church Register on the days immediately following the
raid. 'James Keigwin of Moussell being killed by the Spaniards was buried the
24th of July'. The raid took place the day before, on the 23rd July!". The raiding party proceeded up
But those that had been Dukes, Earls, etc. in the more
antient times were reduced to mere Squires after the Conqueror subdued this
country, in order to bestow his highest favors upon those Normans that abetted
his conquest of the old inhabitants: and the Great Men who were in the Nation
before his coming were generally found guilty of Secret Practices against him
after the Conquest: but whenever it was discovered and proved, he would be sure
to confiscate their Estates, (or bestow them upon his Norman Friends, being one
of the Province of Normandy (in France) himself.
Some of the greatest Families in
The Cornish seems to have been a Language that existed
much upon Sound....It is not amiss to understand that as the names of many
Towns and Villages in Cornwall begin with TRE, POL, and PEN: the first
signifies a Town; the next a Top (or eminence) and the last a head. DREA
signifies Lower, - CREAS signifies Middle - and WARTHA signifies Higher. Hence,
Family names as well as those of Towns and Villages are sufficiently clear: as
Tredea - Lower-Town: TRELOAR (a corruption of Trelooar - Garden-Town, since
Looar signifies a Garden... Thus are Cornish words compounded.
This Country lying so near to France, it is no wonder
there should be so great a similarity in several Words either in spelling or in
Sound; and sometimes in both. As for Example: Breeve, breive, preive: a Serpent: Couleuvre,
Peeth: a well: Puits, Deew: God: Dieu. Canze: a Hundred: Cents. Nowell:
Christmas: Noel.
Now as the Church of England as well as formerly as at
present, was connected with the State, when the earliest of the Kings
translated the Bible into English they should also have sought out the best
educated men in
The little Religion that was propogated till the time
of Henry the Eighth and the Reformation, we may well suppose was preached in
Latin, when the Kings and Lords of the Land feamed a certain Establishment of
it, (according to the Popish manner still used in Catholick countries) from
which CREED, whether TRUE or FALSE no person dared to dissent.... After
Wickliff published his Opinions in which all the Religious part of the World
that had read them, confessed martydom in the flames by the then unmerciful
Clergy - they had no George the Third of blessed memory to sanction liberty of
conscience.
Now from the time of the Reformation in the days of
Henry the Eighth to the reign of William and Mary, when the Cornish Language
was nearly lost, Religion we may suppose was preached in English in all the
Churches of England: but of what use was that in Cornwall for so many ages:
especially to the more illiterate part of the inhabitants. They did not
understand English much better than French; (or than their Forefathers the
Latin Sermons that were then preached to them).
There are few Families in
The Village of our ancestors, through the succeeding reigns from the time of Richard the First, was BOYEJWYAN in
St. Just, in the Hundred of Penwith.
According to what I am certain of our EXTRACTION, we
are not entirely English (British)
nor Roman, as may be proved by our Forefathers bearing the figure of the Castle
at
It appears as if our Ancestry approached nearer to
Nobility in remoter Ages; but whether they had the Title of Squires, or only
Gentlemen in the reigns of the Henries and the Edwards, Mary and Elizabeth etc.
is uncertain ot me, for I could never spy out that my Forefathers' modesty
would ever permit them to boast concerning anything; but this I am certain, that
they continued to farm their paternal lands; so that if they were Gentlemen,
they might be counted Farmers too; though I don't know whether Gentleman-Farmer
was the common appellation of all great farmers then or not, ai it is in the
present day.
However, they lived respectably on their own lands,
with-out being beholden to any one; dwelling nobly and happily among their
people, 2 Kings IV. 13. having no need to make any Suit to King nor Captain;
but not forgetting to improve the rapid moments of their fugitive Time to the
most important of purposes, even their Salvation; as we may justly suppose,
since Religion handed down to the present time in our KEREVE Family has been
more regarded than Marks of distinction; and what will Titles avail at the hour
of Death, and in the day of Judgment?
We come now to the reign of James the First; about the
latter end of which, the marriage of one of our Ancestours must have taken
place; and the first of his children being a Son was called William; born as
well as can be conjectured with any probability, about the year 1616: and the
last of his children being also a Son was born about 20 years after (abt.1633),
and called Ralph.
Now I really believe (but my Grandsire was dead before
I collected these Memoirs, who might have informed me) that my Grandfather's
Father was descended from the above Ralph and not from Ralph's brother William (
He was actually the son of Mathew and Ann born in St.Buryan in 1660, there was
however a William born to Ralph and Jane in 1666) Ralph was aged about 30
when my Great Grandsire was born; and my Great Grandsire had Two Sons and One
Daughter; the elder of whom was called Matthew, by whose age above my
Grandfather's he must have been married at 25, if not before.
As it was the custom of all Country People in those
Times (except Fishermen and Miners) to
live upon their Farms, He, as a Farmer lived like his Forefathers on his own
Lands; though it has been too much the custom since to retire to the
Metropolis.“
We come now to another generation.
WILLIAM ROWE (who whenever he wrote his Name in his
native Language (the Cornish) write it WILLOW KEREVE), the Son of RALPH and
JANE ROWE, was baptized the 10th day of February, A.D. 1666. Thus my
Grandfather's Father, or Great Grandsire was born at
the commencement of the year 1666. From what I gathered from my Grandfather his
Father was a great reader of the Bible, and that he had discovered two chapters
in it exactly alike. I find that is nearly correct there being a little
difference in the last Verse of one of them.
He was a substantial Farmer in the reign of William
and Mary and lived in Boyejwyan, having three Estates of his own and so going
on in the World in a comfortable and independent manner with his Wife, two Sons
and one daughter. And I have heard my Grandfather say that when his Father & Mother had a mind to talk about their Children
they were not willing for them to know, they would talk in Cornish.
Neither my Grandfather, Father nor Uncles could discover that there were any books printed in
the Cornish Language.
As the Cornish Language was declining and going very
fast out of the country, he stitched together some sheets of paper into a book
in order to preserve the Language of his Ancestors. In the same is a table of Cornish
words, with their English meanings, which we may call a Vocabulary. He passed
over the First Leaf which he intended for the title-page, and set down upon the
Second Leaf the Model or Pattern of Prayers in the Cornish; and also in Cornish
the Articles that all true Christians are bound to believe. He then turns over
another leaf, and proceeds as follows:-
An
deege lavarow da Deew... (The
Ten Commandments)
Next
follows the Deege Lavarow (Decalogue) in full;
Tho ve an Arleth da Deew reg
day dy meaze veza pow
1.
Na’ra chee gowas na hene Deew
poz vee.
2.
Na’ra cheel geel theeze dah honen image a wethan na mean ew
Na
ra chee pledgee thenze, Rag ve da Deew honegath vedn boaze engross gen a chee
ha compoza cabm with an zeera war an flehaz da an dridga ha bodwerha heenath a
rima na geeze ort a hara ha shoya bednath war villiaw a eze ort a kara ha
gweetha o lavarow.
3.
Na’ra komerras hannaw Deew en vaine rag na vedn an Arleth gon cawas en paraves rag comeras e Hanow
en vaine.
4.
Pedeere da gwetha an Zeeleva bonegath; whee jorna chee
ra geele wheal ha geele a peth ez theeze tha weele.
Rag
an zithvaz deeth ew an Zeele an Arleth Dew: eta na ra geall zorth veth a
wheele, chee na tha vab, na verth, na da dean, na da voze, na gattal, na da
dean anketh, na dra eza goye da vozou.
5.
Gwra mere da zeerah ha da Dama, malga da dethow booze heer en powe reg an Taze da Deew ry theeze.
6. Na’ra
chee latha den’eth.
7. Na’ra chee gorwetha gen gwreg tha contrevack.
8. Na’ra
chee ladra.
9. Na’ra chee boaz faulz teaze bedn
tha contrevack.
10. Na’ra chee covityah gwreeg da contrevack, na’m
chee covityah choye da contrevack, na e gossel, na e voze, na e edgan, na e
varth, na traveth al beaw a eve.
afterwards
he concludes them thus:-
Deewe acomere Massy waren ha scraffa ol da Lavarow ett
a gon Colonow.
An dela ra bo.
The 3rd
Chapr. of Genesis.
1.
Lebben an hagar-Breeve o moy foulze a vell onen
vethell an Bestaz an Gweale a reege an Arleth Deew geele: Ha e a avarraze tha
an Vennen, Eah! reeg Deew lawle, Che na’raze debre a kenevrah Gwethan an Looar?
2.
Ha an Vennen a lavarraz tha an hagar-breeve, ni a ell
debre a thore oll an Gweth an Loar.
3.
Boz thort an Gwethan a ez en Crease an Loar, Deew a
lavarraz, why
4.
Ha an hagar-breeve a lavarraz tha’n Vennen, why
na’ra seere merwall.
5.
Rag Deew a ore, a en Jorna ah eve debre nothe, n’ena agoz Lagagow ra bos geres; ha why ra boaze
pocara Deew a cothaz Da ha Droag.
6.
Pereege a Vennin gwellas tro an wethan da rag Booze, ha derohi blonk tha’n Lagagow, ha Gwethan tha voaze desyryes tha
gwelle onen feere; Hi a gomeras Radn an Haze anothe,
ha rooge debre; ha a Rowze radne tha e Goore goshe, ha’g e reege debre.
7.
Ha Lagagow an Gie ve gerres ha an Gie oyah teler an
gye en Noath: ha an Gye a wrovas Delkyow Figgez warbarth, ha wraze tho an Gye
Aprodnieo.
8.
Ha an Gye a glowhas Leaufe an Arleth Deew a kerras en
Looar en yeindre an Deeth; ha Adam ha e wreege a geeth tha govah thort Deraage
an Arleth Deew amisk an Gweeth an Looar.
9.
Ha an Arluth Deew agerias tha Adam, ha lavarraz tho tha peleha estha?
10.
Ha e lavarraz, Ve a glowhas tha Leaue en Loohar; he me a Vee owne, rag theram
en Noath, me goath tha govah.
11.
Ha e a gowzas, p Reg laule theese tellestah en Noath? Arestah debre thort an
Gwethan a reege a vee laule theeze a na wresta debre.
12.
Ha an Dean a gowzas, an Venin aresta ry dha ve, hy a rose tha vy thor an Wethan, ha ve reeg debre.
13.
Ha an Arleth Deew a gowzas tha an Venen, panderew hema
a eze gwreze geneze? ha Venen a worebaz, An
hagar-breeve a thullas Ve, ha Ve reeg debre.
14.
Ha an Arleth Deew a lavarras tha an hagar-breeve,
Drefen Chee tha weele hema tho Chee molithees a derez ol an Chattel ha derez
kenefra Bestaz an Gweal: war tha doer Chee ra mooaze, oll Deethyow tha Vowngas.
15.
Ha Ve vedn goerah zoer treeth Chee, ha an Vennen, ha
treeth an haaze Chee ha e haaze hie: E ra brewi tha Pedn, ha Chee ra brewi e
Gwewan.
16.
Tha an Venen E cowzaz, Me vedn meare cressha tha
Dewhan, ha tha Humthan; en Dewhan Che ra doone flehas: ha tha Dezeria ra voaze
tha Goore, ha E ra tha rowlya.
17.
Ha tha Adam E’a gowzas, dreffen Chee tha gazowaz
tha Tallah tha wreege, ha reege debre thor an Wethan, a reeg a Vee lawle theeze
Chee na raage debre anothe; Cushez yw an Nore rag tha Crengah; gen Dewan Chee
ra debre notha oll Dethyow tha Vownyaz.
18.
Spearn ha Askal ra E dry rag theeze: ha Chee ra debre a’n Lozo an Gweale.
19.
En Wheeze tha godna talle Che ra debre tha Vara, tereba Chee tha traylyah tha
Noare: Rag a vesta Che ve comereze: Rag douste eze, ha
tha douste Che ra traylyah.
20.
Ha Adam a gryaze Hanaw e Wreeg Eva dreffen o hie Damah a
oll Bewjah.
21.
Ha tha Adam ha e Wreeg a reeg an Arleth Deew goole bowze Crohan, ha ez goreraz.
22.
Ha an Arleth Deew reeg lawle, meroyow; An Dean yw
devethez pocara ha onen a nye, da othaz Dha ha Drog. Ha leben lez E ora raage e
Dorn a raage ha komeraz a Weeth dore an Gwethan
Bownaz, ha debre, ha bowa rag nevra.
23.
Rag hedda an Arleth Deew devanas Eve a rage thoro Paraves, tha gonez an noare, thor neb veoa comeres.
24.
Della E a hellaz meaze an Dean: ha E oraze Elze neeve,
ha Clotha Tane reg traylya kenefra Vor, tha gweetha an Vôr an Gwethan Vownyaz.
An Duah an
dridga Chaptra a Genisis,
The 2nd
Ch: of St Matthew.
1.
Leben poue Jesus gennez en Bethalem a Judeah en Deethyow Herod an Matern, a
reeg doaze Teeze veer thor an Est tha
2.
Lavaral, peleah ma E yw gennez Matern an Ethewan? Rag ma gwellez gen a ni E steran en Est, ha tho ni devethez tha gorthe thotha.
3.
Pereeg Herod an Matern clowaz hemma, E ve troublez, ha
oll
4.
Ha pereeg E contell oll an Cogazers euhall ha'n Screffars an Bobel worbath, E a
vednaz thoranze pelle ve Chreest gennez,
5.
Ha an gye lavarraz tho tha, en Bethalem a Judeah: râg
an dellma ma thewah screffez gen an Prophet;
6.
Ha Che Bethalem en Pow
7.
Nena Herod, pereeg e prevath crya an Deeze feer, e a
vednyaz thoranze seer pana Termin reeg an Steare disquethaz.
8.
Ha E ez devannaz tha Vethalem, ha reeg laule thonz gworeuh whellaz Seere rag an Flo younk ha perewe why e gavaz, dro Geere tha Ve arta,
mala Ve moaze ha gortha thotha a weeth.
9.
Pereg an Gye clowaz an Matern y eath Caar, ha an Stearan
a reeg an Gye gwellhaz en East geeth devactanze nerege hi doaze ha zavaz derez
leba era an Flo yonk.
10.
Pereg an Gye gwellaz an Steran, thonge loan gen meare
a Loander,
11.
Ha potho an Gye devethez en Choy y a wellaz an Flo
yonk gen Mareea e Thama, ha an Gye a cothaz en Doar, ha gorthaz tha eue; ha
perêg an Gye gerego Throzor y a rooz tho tha Aur ha Frokensence ha Ere.
12.
Ha an Gye ve gwarnez gen Deew ha an Gye a cuskah
neresa an Gye doaz ogaz tha Herod, ha an Gye eath carr tha Pow go honnen Vor
aral.
13.
Ha potho an Gye gellez carr, Mero, Elez Neeue a desquethaz ha Joseph a ve
hendrez an Delma, saue a man ha kebar an Flo
yonk ha e Thama ha ke tha Egyp, ha bothes enna, Terebah Ve drythez Geere; Rag
Herod vedn whelaz an Flô rag E latha.
14.
Pereg E saval, E comeraz an Flo yonk ha e Thama, en
Noaze, ha geeth tha Egyp:
15.
Ha E ve enna terebah Mernaz Herod; malga boaz composez a ve cowsez gen Arleth
neue der an Prophet, o laule a veza Egyp me vedn crya
a Mâb.
16.
Nena Herod pereg E gwellaz fatal o geaze gwreaze anotha gen an
Teze feere, yw engrez; ha thavanaz mehaz, ha lathaz oll an Flehaz a era en
Bethalem, ha oll an dro, en dadn Deaw Vloth coth, a tho an Termen a reeg e
gofen thur an Teez feere.
17.
Nena a ve composez a ve cousez gen Jerman an Prophet, lawle,
18.
En Rama a ve clowez Olva, whola ha Garma, Rachal wholo rag e Flehaz ha na venga hye boaze comfortyes, rag tho an gye lethez.
19.
Potho Herod maraw, mero Elez Neue theath tha Joseph en cuska en Egyp,
20.
Laule, kebar an Flo yonk ha e Thama, ha ke tha Pow an
Ethewan; rag ma Herod maraw, eva whellaz Bownaz an Flo
yonk.
Desunt cetera
The 4th Chapter of St
Matthew
1.
Nena ave Jesus humbregez abera tha Wilderness, tha voaze temptez geen an Joule.
2.
Ha pereeg e penes doganze Jorna ha doganze Noze: e ve ouga nena Gwage.
3.
Ha an Tempter theath thotha, ha lavarraz, e mothosta
Mâb Deew, lavare tha an Meanow tha voaz gwreeze Bara.
4. Buz
e gwerebaz ha lavarraz, e'thyw screffez, n'ara Dean bewah
dreath Bara e honnen, buz gen kenefra geer eze toaze meaze meaza ganaw Deew.
5.
Nena an Jowle an comeraz e mañ abera en Cyte Veneganz,
ha an zettyaz e wor gwarha an Eglos teege.
6.
Ha lavarraz thotha mothosta Maab Deew towle tha honnen doare: rag ethew
screffez, E ra ry tha e Eelez an Pohar an hanesta et
ago doola yra tha doone man leez a turn vethal Chee ra browe tha Drooze bedn
Mean.
7.
Chreest a lavarraz thotha, ethew screffez arta, Che na'raze dèmptya tha Arleth
Deew.
8.
Arta an Jowle an comeraz eu mann wor hugez Meneth
euhall ha disquethaz thotha oll an gwell asketh an Beaze, ha'n Worriance nonge.
9.
Ha lavarraz thotha, oll a Rimah ve vedn ry theeze mor
minta poz cotha an Doer ha gortha Ve.
10.
Ameth Jesus thotha, kethurtam Satnaz, rag thew screffez, Che ra gorthy tha
Arleth Deew, hag eu e honnen Che ra servya.
11.
Nena an Jowle en garaz E; ha mere Elez neve theth, ha
droze thotha.
12.
Leben pereg Jesus clowaz tero jowan towlaz tha bressen, E geath tha Allale.
13.
Ha garah
14.
Malga e boaz composez ave cowsez gen Dean Deew Izias
Dellma,
15.
An Pow Zebulon ha Pow Nepthaly reban Vor tha Môr pelha
avel
16.
An Poble erra zetha en Tolgo a wellaz Gollow broaze; he tha rimah erra zetha en Pow
reb Ankow, ma Gollow dereves man.
17.
Thurt an Termen notha Jesus reeg dalla a boroga, ha
tha laale, Greew gwel, rag ma Gulasketh Neue tha Dorn.
18.
Ha Jesus, gwandra reb a Mor Alale wellas deaw
Broderath Simnen criez Peder, ha Andrew e Broder a towlah Rooze en Mor: (Râg
tho an giie Poscaders).
19.
Ameth E thonge, suyow Vee, ha Me vedn gee thew
Poscaders a Deeze.
20.
Ha straft an Gee arass go Roza, ha an suyas.
21.
Ha moaze alenna E a wellaz moy deaw Broderath, Jamez, Mab Zebde ha Jowan e
Brodar en Goral gen Zebde go Zeerah owna go Roza: ha E grìaz thonze.
22.
Ha an Gye thosympyas ha garaz an Goral ha go Zeerah,
ha an suyas E.
23.
Ha Jesus geth oll a dro der Alale, deske et ago Eglezow
an Gerryow Deew an Gulasketh, sawyah oll sorto Clevas, ha o11 Pesticks
mesk an Boble.
24.
Ha e Fauge geeth der ol Syrya, ha an gy droaze tho tha
oll an Glevyan, ha rimah o comerez gen pubsort Clevyas, ha Tormentyaz ha Rimeh
o comerez gen an Jowloo, ha Rimah o Frantik, ha Rinah o Palgeaz ha E o sawyaz.
25.
Ha ennah an suyaz E Ruth veer a Poble, thor Alale, ha thor Decapolez ha thur
An Duah a an bozvevah Chaptra a
Matthew
‘Then comes a description in
the Cornish Language, of the introduction of Sin into the World; whereby Man
fell from Happiness into Misery. Then follows the Vocabulary, after which he
proceeds to give in Cornish an account of the Birth of Christ, stopping
abruptly at these words:
crya
an Deeze feer e
he
dropped his pen and ceased entirely’
As all earthly happiness, or I should say comfort, is
very precarious, and no dependance to be placed in any terrestial good; so if a
Christian's inheritance is in Heaven, he ought to fix his affections so
tenaciously on celestial good that the revolutions of his present precarious
state should not greatly affect him. But alas! such
equanimity is not easily attained; though he of whom I am speaking, had
acquired it in a tolerable degree.
There was a very notorious Witch living in his
neighbourhood (and witches are always envious people) whom he was not careful
to please, and he discovered by his constant losses of Live-Stock on his Farms
that she was his potent Enemy. And truly, he found the effects of her malice at
last to be so much, that he would go out sometimes in
a Morning to see his Land, and find 10 or 15 Milch-cows dead together. And his
Children since his death have always been used to tell and recount the same;
even also his Grandchildren, i.e. my Father, Uncles and Aunts, as I can myself
remember.
No longer able as a Farmer, to provide Cattle for his
Farms through want of Money, nothing is more likely than that he sold the first
of his Estates about this time. His Cattle, continued to die; and moreover, he
had bad speed in all his undertakings.
The Black Art, then, was at the bottom of all this bad
luck.... How long the MS rested after this I cannot tell; but as well as I can
learn it must have been about this time that he sold another of his Estates;
though nothing then disliked he more, and dismissed many of his laborers and
servants.... Before he had quite finished the MS, it was most likely he was
then about to sell the last of his Estates.
Now a question naturally arises: How was this Witch so
exasperated against him? Or, what was the First Cause of all her enmity towards
him? Did either of his Sons or his Daughter displease her? Perhaps his Daughter
did give her ill words; who most probably envied the Prosperity of her Family
and Family before. From the Religious pieces in the Cornish MS, which he has
left behind him, he appears to have been a godly man; yet according to the
account of his Eldest Son's family who is an Old Man and my second Cousin,
(Matthew Rowe, Senior, yet living) he had by such repeated losses so lost his
patience, that one day he came out of his Barn, when this Witch was going
through the Village with a pitcher of Milk, to tax her for her devilishness,
& to give her a good Clowt for her Aperriss Jowle - her enormous
wickedness, in being guilty of such flagrant crimes as were enough if possible
to rouse the very stones into rage.
I see now, that from being a Master over a number of
Workmen, he was at last reduced to work himself; and
while he was in his barn threshing one day, when the Witch was passing by, came
out and beat her with his Threshall or Flail. She then told him, he had better
quiet, for he should get nothing by it: whereupon he struck her Pitcher of Milk
out of her hands; and though he knocked it about with an intention to break it,
he could neither break it, nor even spill the Milk that was therein! This I
heard Cousin Matthew say a few years ago; & whose
Grandfather then a boy, a little elder than my Grandfather, was at that time
probably with him.
I shall next relate what I have heard my Grandfather
say, who was the next in age (and their Sister was the youngest of the Children) how
his Sister was bewitched; and as it was to him when a boy an astonishing
appearence, he could not forbear relating it occasionally. She would vomit up
hundreds of crooked Pins without any heads, even by handfulls. By all the Money
that was expended upon Doctors and Physicians to cure her, I could never
understand that they did her any good. He used also used to say that his Father
would commonly see a Hare crossing his Land, which he very much disliked: by
what I can discover by my Grandsire's account of that matter, He believed the
same to be his Enemy metamorphosed. But this is not more uncommon than a
Werewolf.
Witches, by what I have been informed, when they enter
into a compact with Satan, always promise him to do as much mischief as ever
they can. But whatever they do, they certainly can go no farther then
O my great Grandfather, my great Grandfather! - though I have only heard of thee, & seen they works, I
look upon thee to have been a very worthy Man; and by my Grandfather's verbal
declaration, thou wast a pious character.
The Prince of English Poets, in order to "assert
eternal
Mazed intricate,
Eccentrick, intervolv'd; yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seem.
- Par. Lost.
He whom I last noticed, viz., WILLOW KEREVE, according
to his Original in Cornish; or WILLIAM ROWE, in English left three Children:
MATTHEW, WILLIAM & PHILADELPHIA;
which
brings us now to another Generation.
I come now to speak of my Grandfather, whose name was
WILLIAM, born at the conclusion of the year 1696, and baptized the 26th of
December, being the morrow on Christmas Day. He was naturally of a good genius,
so that he made a great progress in learning in a short time. He was also from
his childhood remarkably fond of Musick, and excelled as a player on the
violin... After he returned from London, he married and settled upon a Farm in
a village called Trannack, in the parish of Sancreed; and being well dressed
(peut etre en haut ton), with his hair, as was then the fashion, bound about
with a black ribbon, he overheard as he was sitting in his Pew one Sunday just
before the service begun, one Man whisper to another sitting behind him,
"I have no doubt but I shall see that Man before us come to the Parish
before I die". My Grandfather, though he replied nothing, took notice of
the words, and saw that in the course of time the very Man who spoke them came
upon the Parish himself before he died.
Soon after he settled in Trannack he purchased a small
Freehold in the Village of Trewennack in St. Paul, and immediately settled
there; after which he sold it and bought a leasehold in Reginnis (from
Phillip Marrack, an in-law in 1723?); being a third part of that village;
building also a Dwelling House and settling there with his Family. He placed W
B R 1743 on the front of the house, the B for his wife who was called Blanche;
and there they went to live. When I was very Young he made a Deed of Gift to
settle his Sons, reserving just sufficient to take him to his Journey's end.
Before this time he taught me how to tale 20 in Cornish, thus: Wonnin, Deaw,
Trie, Padzher, Pemp, Whee, Zith, Eath, Nawe, Deage, Ednack, Dowthack, Tarnack,
Puzwarthack, Punthack, Weytack, Zitack, Itack, Nawnack, Iggans.
I remember to have heard him say, that a Farmer going
home from market, was asked, What was corn (meaning
wheat) a bushel to-day? who replied Deage Sowls, i.e.
Ten Shillings.