Sabine Baring-Gould

“ On unravelling this tangle in 1874, when writing my July volumes of "Lives of the Saints," I wrote to Mr. Hawker of Morwenstow, and told him that the east window of his church represented Morwenna of Cornwall teaching Edith of Polesworth, and that it was an anachronism and mistake altogether, as it was not Edith who was educated by the saintly Modwenna, and the abbess Modwenna was not the virgin Morwenna. I told him also that St. Modwenna was buried at Burton-on-Trent. ”

“ The moist air from the ocean condenses over the land, and envelops it in fine fog or rain. But when the sky is clear, with only floating clouds drifting along it, the sunlight and shadows that fall over the landscape through the vaporous air are exquisite in their delicacy of color ”

“ Be always sincere, but at the same time be always polite. Be humble without descending from your character, and reprove and correct without ofending good manners. To be a Cynick is as bad as to be a Sycophant: you are not to lay aside the gentleman with the sword, nor put on the gown to hide your birth and good breeding, but to adorn it. ”

“ Phillpotts, "it is very clear that you are not the man for me. I wish you a good-morning." And he wrote off to Robert Stephen Hawker, offering him the incumbency of Morwenstow.
There was probably not a living in the whole diocese, perhaps not one in England, which could have been more acceptable to Mr. Hawker. As his sister tells me, "Robert always loved Morwenstow: from a boy he loved it, and, when he could, went to live there."
He at once adopted the preferment, and went into residence. There had not been a resident vicar since the Rev. Oliver Rose*, who lived at Eastaway, in the parish. ”

“ The legends of a few local saints survive, but of very few. Such is that of St. Melor "with the golden hand," probably some old British deity who has bequeathed his myth to an historical personage. St. Padarn, St. Pieran, St. Cadoc, St. Theilo, have their histories well known, as they belong to Wales. But there are other saints, emigrants from Wales, who settled on the north-west coast, of whom but little is known.
What little can be collected concerning St. Morwenna, who had her cell at Morwenstow, I proceed to give. ”

“ Payne; don't ye hurry a poor fellow into the earth before his time." —"I won't hurry thee: thou canst die at thy leisure." Payne's purpose was, however, kinder than his speech. He carried the suppliant to his own cottage, and left him to the care of his wife. The man lived, and his descendants are among the principal inhabitants of Stratton at this day.
I make no apology for transcribing from the original letters a very few of the most interesting and touching, some for whose escape we cannot feel too thankful. The following beautiful letter is from Lady Grace Granville to her husband. ”

“ As she lay a-dying, says the legend, her brother Nectan came to her from Hartland.
"Raise me in thy arms, brother," she said, "that my eyes may rest on my native Wales." And so she died on Morwenstow cliff, looking out across the Severn Sea to the faint blue line of the Welsh mountains. St. Nectan had a cell probably at Wellcombe, and afterwards at Hartland, for both of these churches bear his name.
The coast from Tintagel to Hartland is almost unrivalled for grandeur. The restless Atlantic is ever thundering on this iron-walled coast. The roar can be heard ten miles inland ”

“ When Alfrid was about to return to Northumbria, the Irish king wanted to make him a present, but, having nothing in his treasury, bade a kinsman go and rob some church or convent, and give the spoils to the Northumbrian prince. The noble fell on all the lands of the convent of Modwenna, and pillaged them and the church. ”

“ But, though these plays are things of the past, the dramatic instinct survives among the Cornish people. There is scarce a parish in which some are not to be found who are actors by nature. For telling a story, with power of speech, expression, and gesture, they have not their equals in England among unprofessionals. ”

“ You could not chuse a better master, provided you have so sufficiently searched your heart and examined your reins, as to be persuaded you can serve Him well. In so doing, you may secure to yourself many blessings in this world, as well as sure hope in the next. ”

“ You have bestowed so much of it upon me in your last letter, that I hope you have no more left, and that you meant it only to take your leave of such flights, which, however well meant, oftener put a man out of countenance than oblige him. ”

“ Stowe house was pulled down. Within the memory of one man, grass grew and was mown in the meadow where sprang up Stowe house, and grew and was mown in the meadow where Stowe had been.
A few crumbling walls only mark the site of the old home of the Granvilles. [9]
The Cornish people in former days were passionately fond of theatrical performances. In numerous parts of Cornwall there exist green dells or depressions in the surface of the ground, situated generally on a moor. ”

“ To wait the wages of the dead,
We laid our hireling in his bed."
In 1834 died the non-resident vicar of Stratton, and the bishop of Exeter offered to obtain the living for Mr. Robert Stephen Hawker; but he refused it, as his father was curate of Stratton, and he felt how unbecoming it would be for him to assume the position of vicar where his father had been, and still was, curate. In his letter to the bishop he urged his father's long service at Stratton; and Dr. Phillpotts, at his request, obtained the presentation for Mr. Jacob Stephen Hawker to the vicarage of Stratton. ”

“ Bryant, who lived at Flexbury, in the parish of Poughill; the next to him was Mr. Thomas, a man who ingratiated himself with the farmers,—a cheery person, fond of a good story, and interested in husbandry, "but not much of the clerical in him," as an old Morwenstow man describes him. Whilst Mr. Thomas was curate, the vicar, Parson Young, died. A petition from the farmers and householders of Morwenstow to the bishop was got up, to request him to appoint Mr. Thomas. The curate, so runs the tale, went to Exeter to present the paper with their signatures, and urge his claims in person. ”

“ Clydwyn, son of Brychan. He is said to have had a sister, St. Pcdita, and a brother, St. Dcdyn, who may be the Cornish Adwen. The St. Tedda, said to be a sister of St. Morwenna in the list, is no doubt St. Tydie, a daughter or granddaughter of Brychan. St. Endelient may be the same as St. Elined, the Almedha of Giraldus Cambrensis, who says that she suffered martyrdom upon a hill called Penginger, near Brecknock. She is venerated on Aug. 1.
In Cornwall, as in Wales, churches were called after the saints who founded cells there. ”

“ It is always pleasant to meet with the beating of a warm human heart. A third letter I venture to transcribe here, from George Lord Lansdown, [7] grandson of Sir Bevil, to his nephew, Bevil Granville. ”

“ Modwenna instructed the sister of Alfrid, "son of the king of England," has led some writers into strange mistakes. Capgrave supposes him to be Alfred the Great, son of Ethelwolf, and that the sister was Edith of Polesworth, who died in 954. And Dugdale followed Capgrave. Mr. Hawker, following Alban Butler, who accepted the account of Dugdale and Capgrave, made the blunder greater by fusing St. Morwenna of Cornwall, who, as has been shown, lived in the fifth century, with Modwenna, who lived at the end of the seventh century, and made her the instructress of St. ”

“ What they are most obliged to combat against in the pulpits they are most accused of encouraging in their conduct. Let your example confirm your doctrine, and let no man ever have it in his power to reproach you with practising contrary to what you preach. ”

“ Davics, rector of Kilkhampton, previous to their being sent away from Stowe. These were copied by Miss Manning of Eastaway, in Morwenstow; and her transcript, together with some of her originals,—I fear not all,—is now in the possession of Ezekiel Rous, Esq., of Bideford. [5]
In his "Footprints of Former Men," Mr. Hawker has given a letter from Antony Payne, the gigantic serving-man of Sir Bevil, written after the battle of Lansdown, to Lady Grace Granville, giving an account of the death of her husband. ”

“ Her father, Brynach Wyddel, lived in Carmarthen and Pembroke. She had a brother named Gerwyn, who is admitted by Welsh authorities to have settled in Cornwall, and been slain on the isle of Gerwyn. He does not appear in Le-land's list. That list is evidently inaccurate: the same person recurs under two forms of his name. Thus John (Ive) and Jona are the same, so also probably are Merewenna of Marham Church and Morwenna of Morwenstow. Kananc is St. Caian, venerated on Sept. 5, a grandson of Brychan, and perhaps, therefore, a son of Corth or Cymorth, and brother of St. Morwenna. St. ”