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 are parts of Devon and of Cornwall where the dark type
prevails. "A black grained man" is descriptive of one belonging to
the Veryan district, and dark hair and eyes, and singular beauty
are found about the Newlyn and St. Ives districts. The darkest type
has been thrust into corners. In a fold of Broadbury Down in Devon,
in the village of Germansweek, the type is mainly dark; in that of
North Lew, in another lap of the same down, it is light. It has
been noticed that a large patch of the dusky race has remained in
Bedfordshire.
The existence of the dark eyes and hair and fine profiles has been
attempted to be explained by the fable that a Spanish vessel was
wrecked now here, now there, from the Armada, and that the sailors
remained and married the Cornish women. I believe that this is
purely a fable. The same attempt at solution of the existence of the
same type in Ireland and in Scotland has been made, because people
would not understand that there could be any other explanation of
the phenomenon.
I have been much struck in South Wales, on a market day, when
observing the people, to see how like they were in build, and
colour, and manner, and features to those one might encounter at a
fair in Tavistock, Launceston, or Bodmin.
I positively must again quote Mr. Havelock Ellis on the Cornish
woman, partly because his description is so charmingly put, but also
because it is so incontestably true.
"The special characters of the race are often vividly shown
in its women. I am not aware that they have ever played a
large part in the world, whether in life or art. But they are
memorable enough for their own qualities. Many years ago, as a
student in a large London hospital, I had under my care a young
girl who came from labour of the lowest and least skilled order.
Yet there was an instinctive grace and charm in all her ways and
speech which distinguished her utterly from the rough women of
her class. I was puzzled then over that delightful anomaly. In
after years, recalling her name and her appearance, I knew that
she was Cornish, and I am puzzled no longer. I have since seen
the same ways, the same soft, winning speech equally unimpaired
by hard work and rude living. The Cornish woman possesses an
adroitness and self-possession, a modulated readiness of speech,
far removed from the awkward heartiness of the Anglo-Saxon
woman, the emotional inexpressiveness of the Lancashire lass
whose eyes wander around as she seeks for words, perhaps
completing her unfinished sentence by a snap of the fingers.
The Cornish woman--at all events while she is young and not
submerged by the drudgery of life--exhibits a certain delightful
volubility and effervescence. In this respect she has some
affinity with the bewitching and distracting heroines of Thomas
Hardy's novels, doubtless because the Wessex folk of the South
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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