MANNERS AND MORALS 147 



But what about the charge ? Was there a particle 

 of truth in it? And, finally, what is meant by 

 wrecking? 



I take it that two distinct things are meant one a 

 very black crime indeed, the other nothing worse than 

 a disregard of regulations and petty pilfering. With 

 regard to the first it is believed from certain stories 

 and traditions which have come down to us, the 

 origin of which is lost in the mists of antiquity, that 

 the natives of the dangerous parts of the coast made 

 it a custom to lure vessels on to the rocks to their 

 destruction by displaying false lights. This may be 

 true : we know that the various races and tribes com- 

 posing the nation Celts and Saxons, Danes and 

 Normans vied with each other in every form of 

 atrocity and of cruelty ; but no instance of the crime 

 in question can be authenticated as having taken 

 place in recent times. Nevertheless the belief is 

 cherished and kept alive in books, mainly religious 

 tales and novels, that this frightful custom continued 

 down to the middle of the eighteenth century when 

 Wesley appeared to convert the Cornish people from 

 their vicious ways and all kinds of wickedness, in- 

 cluding that of deliberately wrecking vessels and 

 murdering the unhappy wretches who succeeded in 

 escaping from the fury of the waves. As the books 

 containing these veracious statements, so flattering to 

 the Cornish, are exceedingly popular in the Duchy 

 and nowhere out of it, the Cornish people are them- 

 selves responsible for keeping these fables alive. 



As for the other lesser crime or offence, I fancy 



