OF CORNWALL. 313 
income for it ; and leaf! it fhould wafte in an improper chanel, he 
depofits it with his landlord, and either takes a new leafe or renews 
his old one ; thirdly, the numbers of people on the fea-coaft, and 
in the tinning parts conftantly increaling, occafion the dividing and 
fplitting large tenements, equally to the advantage of the Lord, 
and the conveniency of his tenants, every one being willing to have 
a fmall fhare of houfe and land for his own life, and that of his 
neareft dependants in proportion to his ability. For a leafe of three 
lives, the taker ufually pays fourteen years value of the real annual 
profit of the eftate, fo that if the eftate is worth ten pounds per 
annum , the tenant will not fcruple to give one hundred and forty 
pounds fine, befides the conventionary rent of one fhilling per 
pound, viz. ten {hillings referved annually to the Lord ; but this 
ufage admits of fome abatements if in a neighbourhood thinly in- 
habited, and fwells into a confiderable increafe, where the people 
are numerous, and trade and employ brifk ; fo that in fome tin- 
parifhes moll tenements bring twenty years value for a leafe of three 
lives, inftead of fourteen. Other tenures there are, both of the Dutchy, 
Bifhop’s lands, and private Gentlemens Manors, which are conform- 
able to the particular cuftoms of each manor, as in other parts of 
England. Of the Ecclefiaftical revenues, I find the following cal- 
culation in Mr. Hals’s MS; but whether juft or otherwife, I am 
not fufficiently informed to decide: “ The yearly revenues of the 
parochial Churches of Cornwall, were computed (fays Mr. Hals) 
by Edward Herle of Prideaux, Efq; in the year 1602, at fixteen 
thoufand fix hundred and twenty pounds ; the lay impropriations 
annually at eight thoufand two hundred pounds. The Lord Bilhop 
of this diocefe is Lord of feveral manors and lands in Cornwall, 
worth annually, if they were not leafed, twelve thoufand pounds ; 
the lands which formerly belonged to religious houfes, it not leafed, 
are worth annually twenty thoufand pounds. In this computation, 
chanteries, oratories, and hofpitals are not included.” 
The Cornifti tongue is a dialed: of that language which, till the s e c^t. 
Saxons came in, was common to all Britain, and more anciently to 0f ™ 0 rn;m 
Ireland and Gaul ; but the inhabitants of this ifiand being dif- idiom, proverbs, 
perfed before thofe conquerors, and driven into Wales and Cornwall, and 
and thence into Bretagne in France, the fame language (as in like 
cafos will always happen), for want of more frequent intercourfe, 
became differently pronounced, fpoke, and written, and in different 
degrees mixed with different languages : Hence came different dia- 
lers, one called the Welfh, the other the Cornifti, the laft the 
Armoric. The radicals are fo much alike in all, that they are 
known and admitted by the inhabitants of either country ; but their 
4 L Grammar 
