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)
We hope that when the laureate revisits Cornwall he may be
induced to go there, and, sitting on a granite throne, by the
side of the tall central stone, sing the "Idyls of the King," if
only in honour of the Welsh bard who has preserved the
remembrance of this remarkable temple where ancient minstrels
sung of how Merlin, the enchanter, deceived the beautiful Igerna,
so that she received King Uter Pendragon as her husband—how
King Uter died, and Arthur, his son, by Igerna, kept his court at
"Wild Dundagel, by the Cornish sea"—and how our own Prince
Arthur, and his knights of the table rounde, slew all the enemies
of Britain. Here they sang of the beauty and guile of the fair
and frail Guenever—of the honour and truth of Arthur's knights,
and the treachery of Mordred. Here the Bard sounded a
lament for the lost lands of Lethowsow, and the submerged City
of Langona:—
"Between Land's End and Scilly rocks
Sunk lies a town that ocean mocks.
* * * * *
Where breathes the man that would not weep
O'er such fine climes beneath the deep?"
We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Borlase for preserving
to us a graphic description of these, and many other, Druidic
circles which have disappeared since his time.
Fortunately, the work of destruction has been arrested at
Boscawen-un circle, as the lady to whom the property belongs
has caused it to be surrounded with a good hedge to prevent
further spoilation. Some years ago a wholesome fear prevailed
of bad luck following anyone who removed these landmarks of a
long past age, but now our country folk think themselves more
enlightened, and, unless those who have some respect for the
monuments of ancient times, take measures to prevent the
recipients of this questionable sort of enlightenment from
exercising their vandalism, our Celtic remains will soon disappear.
Pages might be filled with an account of the destruction which
has taken place within the past half century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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