JOUENAL 



OF THE 



EOYAL INSTITUTION OF CORNWALL. 



No. IX. APKIL. 1868. 



L — Chronicles of Cornish Saints. 



II. — S. Petrock. 



By the Reverend John Adams, M.A., Incumbent of StocJccross, Berhs. 



Read at the Autumn Meeting, November 22, 1867. 



THE traces which remain of Petrock's life are very few and 

 fragmentary, but nevertheless they are remarkably interesting 

 and suggestive. They remind us of a scene which may sometimes 

 be Avitnessed on a calm summer's morning from the lofty crags of 

 the Cornish cliffs. Clouds of dense fog float up from the Severn 

 sea, submerging the narrow combes, mantling the slopes of the 

 hills, and streaming away inland like columns of white smoke. 

 Coast and sea are alike obscured ; wherever the fleecy clouds rest, 

 everything beneath is completely hidden ; but there rises here and 

 there above the mist, a hoary rock or a gorse-clad hill-top, sharp 

 and distinct in outline, and radiant with the glory of the morning 

 sun. So it is with the life of old S. Petrock. Over most of it 

 the impenetrable mist of ages has fallen, and we cannot roll away 

 the darkness, or guess what it conceals. But, nevertheless, isolated 

 incidents remain, — incidents full of life and interest, which are 



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