MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS FOR CORNISH HISTORy. 145 



usefvil career, that the original materials for this work have been 

 placed within the reach of the historical student. Probably few 

 know what this reaUy means, save they whose lot it has been to 

 trace a statement through a long range of copyists — each passing 

 with the general public as an independent authority — to find at 

 last that the originator had blundered, or been led astray by 

 lack of sufficient information ; and that a single document 

 sufficed to render worthless the whole of their labours. In fact, 

 where an original record exists, it is never wise to assu.me that 

 it has been duly considered by our predecessors, and the only 

 safe course is to bring everything so far as possible to the test 

 of contemporary evidence. 



These remarks are simply preliminary to a few suggestions 

 concerning the materials of our Cornish history which yet exist 

 in manuscript. I feel sure that at the present moment, notwith- 

 standing all that has been done, we are very imperfectly 

 acquainted with those records, and that unless a special effort is 

 made at the present moment, we never shall be. The Historical 

 Manuscripts' Commission has done some work in the county, and 

 will do more, but it is overburdened with its toils and straightened 

 for means, and years in any case must elapse before it could do 

 for Cornwall what really needs to be done at once. 



We have reached a stage in the history of the county 

 which closely corresponds to the eventful 1832. In that year 

 the bulk of the ancient Cornish parliamentary boroughs were 

 swept out of existence ; and those of them which had not 

 municipal corporations ceased to show any signs of local life, 

 while several of those which did rejoice in the possession of a 

 chief magistrate and a civic body, as time went on failed to 

 keep up their charters, in the absence of the stimulus — not 

 always unprofitable — of a contested election. 



I think we may safely assume that the whole of these 

 boroughs possessed records of some kind or another, and records 

 which would throw valuable light upon many important points 

 in our local history. I do not believe that they are all lost, or 

 past recovery, especially in those cases when^ proprietary 

 influence was strong ; but can anyone tell us where they are ? 

 Is there any clue to the muniments of St Mawes, Tregony, 

 G-rampound, Mitchell, Fowey, Tintagel, West Looe, St. Germans, 

 Newport ? And is not the enquiry worth the making ? I have 



