A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 1, Devon : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England)
There will always be more independence in miners who travel
about the world, who are now in Brazil, then in the African
diamond-fields, next at home, than in the agricultural labourer, who
never goes further than the nearest market town. The mind is more
expanded in the one than in the other; but in race all may be one,
though differing in ideas, manners, views, speech.
I venture now to quote freely from an article on Cornishmen that is
written by an outsider, and which appeared in a review.
"The dweller in Cornwall comes in time to perceive the constant
recurrence of various types of man. Of these, two at least
are well marked, very common, and probably of great antiquity
and significance. The man of the first type is slender,
lithe, graceful, usually rather short; the face is smooth and
delicately outlined, without bony prominences, the eyebrows
finely pencilled. The character is, on the whole, charming,
volatile, vivacious, but not always reliable, and while
quick-witted, rarely capable of notable achievement or strenuous
endeavour. It is distinctly a feminine type. The other type is
large and solid, often with much crispy hair on the face and
shaggy eyebrows. The arches over the eyes are well marked and
the jaws massive; the bones generally are developed in these
persons, though they would scarcely be described as raw-boned;
in its extreme form a face of this type has a rugged prognathous
character which seems to belong to a lower race."
Usually the profile is fine, with straight noses; and a well-formed
mouth, with oval, rather long face is general, the chin and mouth
being small. I do not recall at any time meeting with the "rummagy"
faces, with no defined shape, and ill-formed noses that one
encounters in Scotland.
There is a want of the strength and force such as is encountered in
the North; but on the other hand there is remarkable refinement of
feature.
I had at one time some masons and workmen engaged upon a structure
just in front of my dining-room windows, and a friend from
Yorkshire was visiting me. The men working for me were perhaps fine
specimens, but nothing really extraordinary for the country. One,
a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed mason, my friend at once designated
Lohengrin; and he was the typical knight of the swan--I suspect a
pure Celt. Another was not so tall, lithe, dark, and handsome. "King
Arthur" was what my friend called him.
The writer, Mr. Havelock Ellis, whom I have already quoted,
continues:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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