COR 
In privileges and language, C-ornwall feems to be ai¬ 
med another kingdom. By 21 Elizabeth it was ordered, 
that all duty on Cornifh cloth exported fiiould be remit¬ 
ted to every Englifhman within the duchy of Cornwall. 
This was firft granted by the Black Prince, in confidera- 
tion of th.eir paying four fhillings for the coinage of every 
hundred of tin; whereas Devonfhire pays no more than 
eight-pence. They have alfo by grant from Richard earl 
of Cornwall, confirmed 25 Henry III. freedom to take 
fand out of the fea, and carry it through the county for 
manure. This they convey many miles on horles’ backs. 
Mr. Ray fuppofes the virtue of this fand depends chiefly 
on the falts mixed with it, which are fo copious, that in 
many places l'alt is boiled up out of a lixivium made of 
the fea fand. 
The Cornifh language is a dialed! of that which, till 
the Saxons came in, was common to all Britain, and more 
anciently to Ireland and Gaul; but the inhabitants of this 
i'land.being difperfed before thole conquefts, and driven 
into Wales and Cornwall, and thence into Bretagne, the 
•fame language, for want of frequent intercourfe, became 
differently pronounced and written. Hence came the 
Welfh, the Cornifh, and the Armoric, dialects, whofe 
radicals are fo much alike, that they are known and 
admitted by the inhabitants of either country ; but the 
grammar fo varied that they cannot converfe. The Cor- 
nifh is reckoned the molt pleafing of the three. It was 
fpoken fo generally down to the reign of Henry VIII. 
that Dr. Morernan, vicar of Mynhinet, is faid to have 
been the firft who taught his parifhioners the Lord’s 
prayer, the creed, and ten commandments, in Englifh ; 
and at the reformation the natives defired the fervice in 
Englilh. The elder people in fome parilhes retained their 
original language to the middle of the feventeenth cen¬ 
tury ; and the lull fermon was preached in it in 1678. 
When Mr. Ray vifited Cornwall in 1662, he could rind 
but one perfon who could write this language ; and it 
is now fo nearly extinct, that Mr. Barrington, in 1768, 
could only find one old woman who could fcold in it, 
and Hie is lince dead. But with a view, if poliible, of 
refeuing this dialeft from oblivion, Dr. Pryce of Red¬ 
ruth, in 1790, collected all the fragments he could 
meet with from every quarter, and with infinite labour 
compiled a vocabulary of the Cornifh language. From 
tliefe researches the inquilitive philologift may derive 
fome advantages, which time or opportunity may here¬ 
after improve. 
In Cornwall the air is milder in winter than in the 
more internal parts of England, and cooler in the fummer 
months! From its being open to the vail Atlantic ocean, 
without the intervention of any land almoft to the coal! 
of America, it receives the whole force of the fouth-weft 
winds, which are in general remarked to blow here four- 
fifths of the year. The air is thereby more full of moif- 
ture, and frequently fubjedl to fogs, but they are not 
unhealthy. The winters are very open, and there are 
but few in which gentlemen are able to procure ice to 
fill their ice-houfes. From the prevalency of the fouth- 
weft winds alio, it is very difficult to raife plantations of 
trees in expofed fituations ; and it is only in Iheltered 
vales where any remains of the ancient natural woods 
are to be found, although there is no doubt that this 
country, as well as the greateft part of all continents and 
iflands, has originally been covered with wood. Myrtles 
grow ever}'where in the open air, without the aid of 
green-houfes, both in this county and Devonfhire, parti¬ 
cularly on the fouthern coafts. Many other tender green- 
houfe plants are to be feen in the open air, in the gar¬ 
dens of the curious. Fruit-trees are every where found 
to thrive, particularly the apple; and in the eaftern parts 
of the county a great deal of cider is made, and of very 
good quality ; but very little is produced to the weft of 
Truro. The mulberry-tree flouriihes well in Cornwall, 
in the weftern parts, and the fruit ripens in perfection. 
Cornwall returns forty-four members to the Britifh par- 
C O R £15 
liament, viz. two for the county, and two for each of 
the following boroughs : Bodmin, Boffiney, Callington, 
Camelford, Fowey, Grampound, Helfton, Lairncefton or 
Dunheved, Lifkeard or Lifkerret, Eaft Looe, Weft I.ooe 
or Portpigham, Leftivithiel, Mitchell or Midfholl, New¬ 
port, Penryn, Saint Germain’s, Saint Ive’s, Saint Mawe’s, 
Saltaih, Tregony, and Truro. Its chief rivers are the 
Tamer, FaleCober, Looe, Camel, Fowe, Haile, Lemara, 
Kenfe, and Aire. Its principal capes or head-lands are 
the Land’s-end, the Lizard, Cape Cornwall, Deadman r s- 
head, Ram-head, See. and a clufter of iflands, one hundred 
and forty-four in number, called the Scilly Ifles, fup- 
pofed formerly to have been joined to the main land, 
though now thirty miles diftant; abounding with anti¬ 
quities, particularly druidical. 
In the reign of Edward I. the Cornifh miners were 
feparated from thofe of Devonfhire. Their laws, recited 
in Piowden’s Commentaries, were further explained by 
50 Edward III. confirmed and enlarged by parliament, 
8 Richard II. 3 Edward IV. 1 Edward VI. 1 and 2 Philip 
and Mary, and 2 Elizabeth, and the whole fociety di¬ 
vided into four parts or ftannuries, under one general 
warden, to do iuftice in law and equity. The lord-war¬ 
den appoints a vice-warden to determine all ftannary dis¬ 
putes every month: he alfo conftitutes four ftewards, one 
for each of the precincts before-mentioned, who hold 
their courts every three weeks, and decide by juries of 
fix perfons. The advantages arifing from thefe ftannary 
courts are, That all tinners and labourers in and about 
the Itannaries fhall, during the time of their working 
therein, bonaJide, be privileged from fuits of other courts, 
and be only pleaded in the ftannary court in all matters, 
excepting pleas of land, life, and member. No writ of 
error lies from hence to any court in Weftminfter-hall, as 
was agreed by all the judges, in 4 Jac. I. But an appeal 
lies from the fteward of the court to the under-warden, 
and from him to the lord-warden, and thence to the 
privy-council of the prince of Wales, as duke of Corn¬ 
wall, when he hath had livery or inveftiture of the fame ; 
and from thence the appeal lies to the king himfelf, in 
the laft refort. Five towns are appointed in the molt 
convenient parts of the county for the tinners to bring 
their tin to every quarter of a-year. Thefe are Lefkard, 
Leftwithiel, Truro, Helfton, and Penzance, the lull added, 
by Charles II. for the conveniency of the weftern tinners. 
In the time of Henry VIII. there were but two coinages, 
at Midfummer and Michaelmas : two more at Chriftmas 
and Lady-day were added, for which the tinners pay an 
acknowledgment, called pofl-groats, or fourpence for every 
hundred of white tin then coined. The officers appointed 
by the duke allay it; and if well purified flump it by a 
hammer with the duchy leal; and this is a permiffion to 
the coiner to fell, and is called coining the tin. 
CORN'WALL, a townfhip of the American States, 
in Addifon county, Vermont, eaft-of Bridport, on Lake 
Champlain, containing 826 inhabitants. 
CORN'WALL (New), a townfhip of the American 
States, in Orange county, New York, of whofe inhabi¬ 
tants 350 are electors. 
CORN'WALL, a townfhip of the American States, in 
Litchfield county, Connecticut, about nine miles north 
of Litchfield, eleven fouth of Salilbury, and about forty 
weft by north of Hartford city. 
CORN'WALL, a fmall town in Upper Canada, on the 
bank of Iroquois river, near Lake St. Francis, between 
Kingfton and Quebec. 
CORNWAL'LIS, [?. d. come of Cornwall .] A fur- 
name. 
CORNWAL'LIS, a town of the American States, in 
King’s county, in the province of Neve Brunfwick, fitu- 
ated on the fouth-weft fide of the balm of Minas : eigh¬ 
teen miles north-weft of Falmouth, and fifty-five north- 
weft of Annapolis. Alfo a river in the fame province, 
navigable for veflels of xoo tons five miles; for veflels of 
fifty tons ten miles, 
J CORN'Yj, 
