s e c t . v. The powers of > the mindv together twth the-nervous faculties o f
A torpid^ the hody, are fometimes interrupted and fuipended, and then reven
years. ftored: the moft remarkable inftance of which happened lately in
the town of Penzance to Phillis wife o f Thomas Sibley, fifhcrman,
who on the third of Auguft1 1 744, aged then about forty-one years,
had a male child, was well in heakb, nurfed the child, and had
plenty of milk; hut within a few weeks after (viz< in September
1744) upon hewing a rumour that her huiband-was drowned in
Gwavas-lake by the then violent ftorm, took fright; this ftruck back
her milk immediately, fhe grew low-fpirited,: •' gradually weaker,
defpaired of remedy, loft her memory (but not totally), and Icarefely
diftinguifhed one perfon or thing from another : On the. feventh öf
May, 1747, fhe had a dead child, but was - ib weak that ihe was
not fenfible of her having had a child; and about fix Weeks after
being brought to-bed, loft her memory quite, knew no one, and loft
her mouth fpeech. She ufed at times milk, broth ,fifli, and potatoes,
as they were adminiftred, but could make no 'ftir to feed her-
fetf; and in the whole taking little nourifhment of! any kind, was
altogether emaciated, and continued without motion, fpeech, and
apprehenfion, till Chriftmas 1753, when, on a Sunday night, Are
had feveral ftrong convulfive fits, and the family thought thefe her
laft ftruggles; but they were only the efforts of Nature to remove
obftnuftions, and reftore the fenfibility of the nervous fyftem. The
fits returned the next day, and when they had ceafed, fhe feemed
to take a little more notice of things round her than fhe had done
before; thenpcrceivably bettered in fenfesand difcernment for about
half a year, when, a little before Midfummer 17 54, 4 ^ ^pch
ftruggling, fhe lpoke a few words very imperfectly and like a
child learning to pronounce, found her tongue very ftiff, and was
fome days before flbe could fpeak diftinCtly, after being feven years
and two weeks utterly ipeechlels. . She. has the character o f a ferb-
ous, good woman; and when I law her, July 27, 1757, inclinable
to be corpulent.
s e c t . vi. Among ancient cuftoms ftill retained by the Cornifh, may be
reckoned that of decking their doors and porches on the firft o f
May with green boughs of lycamore and hawthorn, and of planting
trees, or rather ftumps of trees, before their houfes. From
towns they make excurfions on May eve into the country, cut down
a tall elm, bring it into town with rejoicings, and having fitted a
ftraight taper pole to the end o f it, and painted it, erebt it in the
moft publick part, and upon holidays and feftivals drels it with
garlands of flowers, or enflgns and ftreamers. Keyfler1 thinks that
1 Page 88 of Northern Antiquitfe*.
cc this
“ this- emftomitook its rife from the earneft .defire of the people to
fee their king,-who feldom appearing at other times, made big. pr.Q-
ceflion at this time of the year to the great aflembjyof the ifetes
held in.the open air; the-women aöd'men therefore, dfawn by-
curiofity, pafifd, their nightstand days, but elpecially the night before
the. firft oft May, (allured, by the vernal feaJou) in danrit}g and
feaffei® the ope« «air anti in the woods,”- 4Ä apemoty o f which, rural
noduroal affemBhes, earlpon . the firli ofiMay;evefy houfe h ^ its
hough or bran^at the dbor, as if the mafter vya¥^u6 juft returned
from the wood» ».This;is not «improbable, but tt‘'is.ias; likely fliat
tins cuftom is-ÜSthing lÄ P w ä h a gratulation of the fplÄg’,"tnd
had I I oth^f foundation^-than to dilplay- the leaves- and bfoflbms
• -which b e g in g this time, tqadqrn. every Ledge, tree, and fljrtib.^of
this" every 'fiefra was to take n6tiee, äücf by exhibiting wr proper
fignal of the ipring’s approach, to teftify- their liniverfal joy ’at.-the
revival of vegCtatidav f
It is. a general cuftom in Cornwall to majke bonfires ip cv^ty vii- s e c t , vil
läge on the eve b f St. John Baptift’s and St, days whit^IBorfres.
have in another place expatiated upon^ as the r§fn#Us e f part cn ^
the Druid fiiperflition. §
Another general cüftom'wäs the P L A T or interlude in the Cornifh se c t .v i i i .
tongue. O f thefe plays the-fttbjedts Were taken from fteripture,: and^y®-
thc-defign frdtably good, even that of inffru<9hog the common rieo- •
pie' in the meaning and exigency o f the Holy Scriptures ”, although
the defign, it muft be owned, is executcdi in a -coaffe and rude
manner.
“ There are two M S S in the Bodleian'Library which ° goptaipf
feme interludes,. of, as the author calls them, Ordinalia : the firft
in parchment, written in the fifteenth century, exhibits three Ordinalia
\ the frrft treats of the dreation o f - the world, the feeond of
the paflion of our Lord Jefiis*Chrift, the third of the reiuireöionp.
The other M S is on paper, written by William Jordan, An. 161 1.
This has only one ordinale^ of the creation of the world and' the
deluge3. There is a third book written in Cornifh on vellum, which'
Mr. Ed. Lhuyd- (late keeper o f the Mufaeum at Oxford) received,
from John Anftis, Efq; Garter King at Arms before mentioned.
m Antiquities ofg^rtiwall, page
n Bifliop Nichplto’s Letter to Dr. Charlett,.
November 14, A. D. 1700 $ of which fee Antiquities
of Cornwall, page 106.
0 Mr. Lhuyd’s account of them in a letter , to
Thomas Tonkin, Efq} i fQf - - - -M S Tonkin,
page 36.
p Bib. Bodl. B. 40, Art. given by James Button,
Efq} of Worcefter&ire, An. 16x5.
* Mr. Hals in his M S (viz. Defer“, of Cornwall)
fays, that thefe plays in.M S were brought
into Oxford A. D* 1450 j but this muft be a mif-
take (if he means all), the laft-mentioned being
not written till the beginning of the laft century.
it