Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second SeriesBottrell, William
General
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
Bottrell, William
Cornwall (England : County) -- Social life and customs; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
In one of the Townly Mysteries, Mak, the buffoon of the piece,
steals a sheep from the shepherds, while they are asleep, and
takes it home to his wife, who puts it into the cradle, endeavouring
to make it pass for a child, and praying that if ever she
beguiled the shepherds, who have come in search of it, she may
eat the child lying there. The trick, however, is discovered.
One of the shepherds going to kiss the child, finds the long
snout.
There are many other comic passages in these mysteries, which
would now be considered rather gross than witty. Yet, with all
that and their ludicrous anachronisms, those who take an
interest in ancient manners and customs will be gratified by
their perusal.
Mr. Sandys, in the work from which we have largely quoted,
also gives us the following interesting bit of information:—
"In 1428, a sum of four pounds was given to Jakke Trevaill
and his companions, for making various plays and interludes
before the king at Christmas."
Surely Jakke and his comrades went up from St. Just or
Sancras, to show king Henry VI what a Cornish guise-dance
was like.
The re-introduction of mediæval mysteries and other middle-age
mummeries, as well as the federation of extreme religionists,
is a curious and significant sign of these times, in which all
unite to pleasantly "trickle the trout," or to extend the good
work, as parties of different views may choose to regard this rare
union of extreme links.
The Levelis, of Trewoof.
Trewoof (or as it is now called Trove) was formerly the seat of
a family of gentlemen bearing that name, who gave for their
arms "Arg a chev, sa between 3 black birds (hoops) ppr."
This family flourished here from a very remote period, and we
find that as early as 1292 (12 Edwd. I.) one Hawise Trewoof,
the relict of William de Trewoof, intermarried with Henry de
Boscawen, of Boscawen Rose (ancestor of the noble family of
Boscawen Earls of Falmouth.) Trewoof and Boscawen Rose are
both in the parish of St. Buryan, and less than two miles
apart.
The estate continued in the possession of the Trewoofs until the
reign of Henry VII, when Johanna, daughter and sole heiress
of John Trewoof, "carried" it, together with herself, in
marriage to Thomas Levelis, of Castle Horneck and Landewednack.
The Levelis family was of very old Norman descent, and had[272]
flourished in the district from the Conquest (1066) as appears
from the monument of Arthur Levelis, Esquire, to be seen in
Buryan Church.
The arms of this family are given as "Arg 3 calves' heads
couped at the neck, gules." The crest given in the Visitation is
"A garretted turrett, or, surmounted with 3 turretts or small
towers." In Landewednack Church window, easternmost but
one, says Dr. Borlase, "I find that Thomas Levelis, who glazed
ye window, bore arg 3 calves' heads in pile gules. His wife's
arms were arg a chev betwixt 3 hoops sable."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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