78 OOBNUBIANA. 



when, and whither, are questions that cannot be solved. It is 

 hardlv likely that the loss of a chalice of so late a date should 

 have given rise to the legend of the theft, though legends are 

 much oftener of such coinage than is usually supposed. In view 

 of this legend, however, it is extremely extraordinary that the 

 chalice should be actually missing. 



IV. — The Great-Work Mine. 



This mine, situated at the base of Godolphin Hill, singu- 

 larly possesses an English name, though according to tradition — 

 as its history dates back to many a century ago, we should expect 

 to find a Cornish name. Its English name contrasts with the 

 name "Wheal Yor, whose Cornish appellation is not borne out 

 by any traditions of age. The Great Work, together with 

 Ding Dong Mine, claims to have sent tin to Solomon's Temple, 

 probably, in the view of the tradition-mongers, to be alloyed 

 with copper, so as to make bronze, which formed a large portion of 

 the material used by Solomon in the furniture of the Temple. 

 Leaving such baseless theories, Tonkin tells us that in the parish 

 of Germoe stands Godolphin Ball,* but in this he is mistaken, 

 because it is in the old parish of St. Breage. He says that the 

 Godolphin families have had a " considerable augmentation of 

 their paternal estate from the casualties of tin from thence 

 issuing (Godolphin Ball). The same is a barren mountain of 

 pretty large extent and great height, and although wrought fortin 

 for (at the least) three hundred years, seems still like the widow's 

 cruse of oil and barrel of meal to increase in the using, for not- 

 withstanding the incredible quantities of tin that have been 

 taken thence in former ages, it still affords employment and pays 

 the wages, with some overplus, of at least three hundred men 

 throughout the year." In this account we find that Godolphin 

 Hill was known in Tonkin's day by the name of Godolphin Ball,* 

 a title which it never now bears, and that it had been working for 

 at least three hundred years, about which there is some doubt, 

 as by this time it would have reached nearly the age of five 

 hundred years (Tonkin wrote about 1712) and this seems very 

 doubtful, on account of its English name. Probably it was here 

 that Sir Francis Godolphin first employed his " Dutch Minerall 

 Man," by whose ingenuity he so much improved the methods 



*Ball, a round hill, or (?) Bal, a mine. 



